LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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Accession  No.  Jo  3  <3  °?  .    •    Cla&s  No. 


TTBRARy5 

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UNIVERSITY 


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THE 

LIFE  AID  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


OP 


HENRY  CLAY, 

.DOWN  TO  1848. 

BY  EPES  SARGKENT. 


EDITED  AND  COMPLETED  AT  MR  CLATS  DEATH, 

BY  HGRUVCE  'GREELEY. 


NEW  YORK : 

C.  M.  SAXTON,  BARKER  &  CO.,  ^  PARK  ROW 

SAN  FRANCISCO:   H.  H.   BANCROFT    &  CO. 

1860. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1852, 
By  H.  GREELEY  &  T.  McELRATH, 

Clerk's  OflSce  of  tne  District  Court,  cf  the  United  States,*  «s-f  fit  the  Soutbent 
Distric.  c*'  /<s*  t.fk. 


INTRODUCTION. 


SEVERAL  sketches,  more  or  less  elaborate,  of  the  Character 
aid  Career  of  HENRY  CLAY,  appeared  during  his  life-time,  oftener 
prefixed  to  collections  of  his  Speeches  ;  though  one  independent 
Memoir,  of  decided  merit,  was  written  more  than  twenty  years 
since  by  GEORGE  D.  PRENTICE,  Editor  of  the  Louisville  Jour 
nal,  and  then  widely  disseminated.  That,  however,  has  long 
been  out  of  print,  while  the  more  eventful  and  memorable  half 
of  Mr.  Clay's  biography  was  yet  in  the  future  when  Mr.  Pren 
tice  wrote.  And  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  Mr.  Clay  himself 
gave  the  preference,  among  all  the  narratives  of  his  life  which 
had  fallen  under  his  notice,  to  that  of  EPES  SARGENT,  first  is 
sued  in  1842,  and  republished,  with  its  author's  revisions  and 
additions,  in  the  summer  of  1848. 

The  aim  of  Mr.  Sargent  was  not  so  much  to  impart  his  own 
conception  of  Mr.  Clay's  views  and  motives  as  to  enable  every 
reader  to  infer  them  directly  from  the  Statesman's  own  words, 
or  those  of  his  illustrious  cotemporaries  —  whether  compatriots  or 
rivals.  His  work,  therefore,  is  rather  a  collection  of  authentic 
materials  for  the  future  biographer  than  an  original  and  exhaustive 
essay.  For  the  time  had  not  arrived  —  nay,  has  not  yet  arrived 
— for  a  final  and  authoritative  analysis  of  Mr.  Clay's  character, 
nor  for  a  conclusive  estimate  of  the  nature,  value,  tendencies, 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

and  results  of  his  public  measures.  We  Americans  of  1852 — 
nearly  all  of  us  who  read  or  think,  with  many  who  do  neither 
— are  the  heated  partisans  or  embittered  opponents  of  Mr.  Clay — 
with  him  or  against  him,  idolizing  or  detesting  him,  we  have 
struggled  through  all  the  past  decades  of  our  manhood.  He  has 
been  our  demigod  or  demon  through  the  last  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury,  while  many  of  us  date  our  admiration  or  our  hostility  from 
the  year  1812.  If,  then,  we  can  but  preserve  and  intelligibly 
present  the  facts  essential  to  a  just  estimate  of  Mr.  Clay's  char 
acter,  we  may  very  properly  remit  to  th©  next  generation  the 
duty  of  analyzing  those  facts,  and  determining  what  manner  of 
man  was  the  Orator  of  Ashland  whose  voice  enchained  and 
wielded  listening  Senates,  and  whose  weaponless  hand  was 
mightier  than  the  truncheon  of  generals,  or  the  scepter  of 
monarchs.  It  is  at  least  the  duty  of  his  surviving  friends  to  take 
care  that  he  be  not  misrepresented  to  and  undervalued  by  pos 
terity  because  the  facts  essential  to  his  true  appreciation  were 
not  seasonably  collected  and  fitly  set  forth. 

This,  then,  is  the  aim  and  end  of  the  work  herewith  submitted 
—  a  candid  presentation  of  the  facts  essential  to  a  just  estimate 
of  Mr.  Clay's  Life  and  Public  Services,  from  the  point  of  view 
whence  they  were  regarded  by  his  devoted,  unselfish  compatriots 
and  friends.  If  he  has  been  over-estimated,  if  the  system  of 
Public  Policy  which  he  so  long  and  ably  advocated  be  mistaken 
and  unsound,  time  will  so  determine.  Should  the  ultimate  ver 
dict  be —  as  I  think  it  can  not — adverse  to  his  eminence  as  a 
Statesman,  it  need  not  therefore  blast  his  reputation  as  a  Man. 
That  he  was  a  sincere  and  ardent  Patriot,  an  earnest  though  un 
pretending  Philanthropist,  a  beloved  Husband  and  Father,  a  kind 
and  just  Neighbor,  a  chivalrous  Adversary,  and  an  unfailing 
Friend — these  are  no  longer  doubtful.  So  much,  at  least,  is 
secure  from  the  venom  of  calumny  and  the  accidents  of  fortune. 
Let  some  future  Plutarch  or  Thucydides  fix  and  declare  the 
world's  ultimate  verdict  on  the  American  System  and  its  Father ; 
but  we,  who  knew  and  loved  him  well,  may  more  truly  and 
vividly,  even  though  awkwardly  and  feebly,  depict  how  looked 
and  felt,  how  spoke  and  acted,  how  lived  and  loved,  the  man 
Henry  Clay. 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

The  Editor,  in  revising  the  work  of  Mr.  Sargent,  has  taken 
tne  responsibility  of  omitting  or  modifying  some  passages  which 
involved  harsh  judgments  of  those  Political  brethren  who,  at  one 
time  or  another,  have  seen  fit  to  prefer  some  other  Whig  to  Mr. 
Clay  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  He  did  not  perceive  that 
those  judgments  bore  any  proper  relation  to  Mr.  Clay's  charac 
ter  or  career,  while  their  reproduction  would  tend  to  revive  feuds 
and  heart-burnings  now  happily  laid  to  rest.  That  Mr.  Clay 
might  have  been  elected  President  in  1840,  had  he  been  nomi 
nated  by  the  Harrisburg  Convention,  may  very  readily  be  affirmed 
at  this  time,  by  men  who  had  ample  reason  to  doubt  it  at  the 
gloomy  close  of  the  Elections  of  1839.  It  was  far  easier  to 
demonstrate,  not  in  that  year  only,  that  Mr.  Clay  deserved  to  be 
President  than  that  he  would  be  a  successful  candidate.  And 
there  is  nothing  in  this  which,  rightly  considered,  proves  Whig 
principles  obnoxious  or  Mr.  Clay  unpopular.  Among  the  Three 
Million  Voters  of  our  Republic,  a  majority  in  favor  of  every 
feature  in  a  comprehensive,  affirmative,  positive,  vigorous  system 
of  Public  Policy,  can  rarely  be  expected.  One  who  assents  to 
the  general  outline  will  object  to  this  detail,  another  to  that,  and 
so  on ;  while  a  great  many  decline  fatiguing  their  brains  with 
any  thorough  study  or  investigation,  but  jump  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  truth  lies  somewhere  between  the  contending  parties, 
and  probably  about  half  way.  Thus  the  expounder,  the  cham 
pion,  the  '  embodiment'  of  either  party  founded  on  great  principles 
of  public  policy  and  logical  in  their  adherence  thereto,  is  almost 
certain  to  lose  the  votes  of  the  great  body  of  twaddlers,  fence- 
men,  and  others  who  split  the  difference  between  the  contending 
hosts,  though  his  nomination  has  evoked  the  profoundest  enthu 
siasm,  and  been  hailed  with  unbroken  acclamation.  Let  those 
who  still  marvel  that  Mr.  Clay,  while  so  popular  a  man,  was  not 
a  successful  candidate,  consider  what  would  have  been  the 
chance  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  election,  had  that  eminent  Statesman 
been  nominated  against  his  great  antagonist  in  1844,  or  indeed 
at  any  time.  He  would  not  have  received  one-fourth  of  the 
Electoral  Votes  ;  and  yet  Mr.  Calhoun  was  the  truest  and  ablest 
exponent  the  Country  has  known  of  the  Political  creed  antagon 
ist  to  that  of  Mr.  Clay. 


0  niTBODTTCnON. 

With  regard  to  the  important  questions  which  have  more  re 
cently  agitated  the  Republic,  especially  those  relating  to  or  in 
volved  in  the  Compromise,  the  Editor  has  endeavored  to  place 
them  fairly  and  clearly  before  the  reader,  so  far  at  least,  as  was 
deemed  necessary  to  a  thorough  understanding  of  Mr.  Clay's 
course.  If,  in  the  absence  of  authorities  and  the  haste  of  prepa 
ration,  injustice  has  been  done  to  any  one,  or  any  important  fact 
has  been  overlooked,  he  solicits  corrections,  and  will  be  happy 
to  embody  them  in  the  Life. 

One  point  may  as  well  be  here  noted.  It  has  recently  been 
stated  with  confidence,  by  one  who  has  in  this  case  no  conceiva 
ble  motive  for  falsehood,  that  Mr.  Clay  was  actually  born  in 
1775,  and  so  was  two  years  older  than  he  has  hitherto  been, 
and  in  the  body  of  this  work  still  is,  represented.  Improbable 
as  this  story  would  seem,  it  is  not  utterly  devoid  of  corrobora- 
tion.  Should  investigation  establish  its  correctness,  it  will  of 
course  be  readily  conformed  to  in  future  editions  of  this  work, 
should  such  be  demanded. 

And  thus  inviting  correction,  but  by  no  means  deprecating  un 
friendly  criticism, — conscious  that  haste  and  a  complication  of 
engrossing  duties  have  marred  the  execution  of  his  work,  but 
confident  that  the  illustrious  subject  will  nevertheless  be  found 
faithfully  and  clearly  depicted  in  this  volume,  the  Editor  closes 
his  task  and  solicits  for  its  performance  only  that  it  be  tried  by 
the  standard  of  its  own  modest  aims,  rather  than  by  that  of  the 
critic's  preconception  of  what  its  aims  should  have  been. 

H.  O. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Hrth  and  Parentage— His  Early  Days— The  Mill  Boy  of  the  Slashes— Studies  Law- 
Hears  Patrick  Henry— Removes  to  Kentucky— Debut  at  a  Debating  Society— Be 
comes  a  Successful  Practitioner — Cases  in  which  he  distinguishes  himself— He  advo 
cates  the  Policy  of  gradually  Emancipating  the  Slrves  in  Kentucky — Opposes  the 
Alien  and  Sedition  Laws — Is  elected  to  the  General  Assembly — Instances  of  his  Elo 
quence—Affair  with  Col.  Daviess— Appears  at  the  Bar  for  Aaron  Burr— Subsequent 
Interview  with  Burr  in  New  York 13 

CHAPTER  II. 

Elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States— His  First  Speech  in  Favor  of  Internal 
Improvements— Is  chosen  Speaker  of  the  Kentucky  House  of  Assembly— Speeches 
and  Reports — Resolutions  in  Favor  of  American  Manufactures — Duel  with  Hum 
phrey  Marshall — His  Sentiments  in  Regard  to  Duelling — Takes  his  Seat  a  Second 
Tune  in  the  United  States  Senate — Speaks  in  Behalf  of  Domestic  Manufactures — Lays 
the  Foundation  of  the  American  System — Speech  on  the  Line  of  the  Perdido — 
Labors  of  the  Session— Third  Session  of  the  Eleventh  Congress— The  United  States 
Bank — He  becomes  a  Member  of  the  United  States  House  of  Representatives — la 
chosen  Speaker  on  the  first  Ballot— Critical  State  of  Public  Affairs — Is  in  Favor  of  a 
War  with  Great  Britain— Speech  on  the  Bill  for  raising  Troops— On  a  Naval  Estab 
lishment — Carries  his  Measures — Our  Naval  Successes .26 

CHAPTER  III. 

Mr.  Clay  prefers  a  Seat  in  the  House  to  one  in  the  Senate — Reasons  for  making  him 
Speaker — The  President  recommends  an  Embargo — The  Measure  opposed  by  John 
Randolph  and  Josiah  Quincy — Defended  by  Mr.  Clay — His  Intercourse  with  Ran 
dolph — War  declared — The  Leaders  in  the  House — Mr.  Cheves  aud  Mr.  Gallatin— 
Mr.  Clay  appointed  to  confer  with  President  Madison-*Anecdotes — Events  of  the 
War— Motives— Federal  Abuse— Clay's  Reply  to  Quincy— Effects  of  his  Eloquence- 
Passage  of  the  Army  Bill— Madison  re-elected  President— Mr.  Clay  resigns  the 
Speaker's  Chair,  being  appointed  Commissioner  to  Ghent — His  Services  during  the 

War 39 

• 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Meeting  of  the  Ghent  Commissioners— Mr.  Clay  visits  Brussels— Anecdote— Mode  of 
transacting  Business— Untoward  Event— Mr.  Clay  refuses  to  surrender  to  the  British 
the  Right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi— His  Reasons— Controversy  between  Messrs. 


8  CONTENTS. 

Adama  and  Russell — Mr.  Clay's  Letter — Goes  to  Paris — Is  introduced  to  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  by  Madame  de  Stael— Hears  of  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans— Visits  Eng 
land—Lord  Castlereagh  and  his  First  Waiter— Waterloo  and  Napoleon— Mr.  Clay's 
Reception  in  England — Declines  going  to  Court — Sir  James  Mackintosh — Lord  Gam- 
bier,  &c.— Mr.  Clay's  Return  to  New  York— Reception— Re-elected  to  Congress- 
Vindication  of  the  War— Internal  Improvements— His  Country,  his  Whole  Country.  .52 

CHAPTER  Y. 

Recharter  of  the  United  States  Bank— Mr.  Clay's  Views  in  1811  and  1816— Scene  in 
the  House  with  Randolph — The  Compensation  Bill — Canvasses  his  District — Skirmish 
with  Mr.  Pope— The  Old  Hunter  and  his  Rifle— The  Irish  Barber— Repeal  of  the 
Compensation  Bill— South  American  Independence — Internal  Improvements — Mr 
Clay's  Relations  with  Mr.  Madison — Intention  of  Madison  at  one  Time  to  appoint 
him  Comrnander-in -Chief  of  the  Army — Election  of  James  Monroe — Mr.  Clay  carries 
his  Measures  in  Behalf  of  the  South  American  States — His  Eloquent  Appeals — His 
Efforts  successful — His  Speeches  read  at  the  Head  of  the  South  American  Armies — 
Letter  from  Bolivar,  and  Clay's  Reply 64 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Internal  Improvement — Mr.  Monroe's  Constitutional  Objections — Mr.  Clay  replies  to 
them — Congress  adopts  his  Principles — The  Cumberland  Road  ^-Anecdote — Monu 
ment — Discussion  of  General  Jackson's  Conduct  in  the  Semim/j  Campaign — Mr. 
Clay's  Opinions  of  that  Chieftain  in  1819 — A  Prophetic  Glimpse — Mr.  Adams  and 
General  Jackson — The  Father  of  the  American  System — Bill  to  regulate  Duties,  &c. 
—Mr.  Clay's  Speech  in  Behalf  of  the  Protective  Policy— His  Great  Speech  of  1824— 
Passage  of  the  Tariff  Bill — Results  of  his  Policy — Voice  of  the  Country — His  unremit- 
ted  Exertions — Randolph's  Sarcasms— Anecdote 79 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Missouri  Question — Mr.  Clay  resigns  the  Speakership — The  Union  in  Danger — He 
resumes  his  Seat  in  Congress — Unparallelled  Excitement — His  Compromise  of  the 
Question — Pacification  of  Parties — Character  of  his  Efforts — Proposition  of  John 
Randolph  and  some  of  the  Southern  Members — Interview  with  Randolph — Anec 
dotes — Randolph  and  Sheffey — Mr.  Clay's  Retirement  from  Congress — Derangement 
of  his  Private  Affaire — Return  to  the  House — Again  chosen  Speaker — Jeu  d'Esprit — 
Mr.  Clay's  Address — Independence  of  Greece — His  Speech — Labors  during  the  Ses 
sion  of  1824 — Reception  of  Lafayette  in  the  House — Welcomed  by  Mr.  Clay — Lafay 
ette's  Reply — Lafayette's  Wish  to  see  Mr.  Clay  President — Anecdote — Mr.  Clay  and 
Mr.  Monroe 88 


•     CHAPTER  VIII. 

ie  Presidential  Question— Nomination  of  Mr.  Clay— His  Qualifications  set  forth- 
General  Harrison  in  favor  of  Henry  Clay — Slanders  in  the  House — Kremer's  Letter- 
Monstrous  Nature  of  the  Charges  against  Mr.  Clay — His  Course  in  Regard  to  them- 
Appointment  of  a  Commitee  of  Examination — Compete  Refutation  of  the  Calumny — 
Mr.  Clay's  Address  to  his  Constituents — Election  of  John  Quincy  Adams  by  the 
House— Exasperation  of  Gen.  Jackson's  Friends— Mr.  Clay's  Independence  of  Spirit- 
Motives  of  his  Preference— Gen.  Lafayette  substantiates  his  Assertions— Mr.  Clay 
appointed  Secretary  of  State— Views  of  this  Act>— Slander  temporary— Justice  inev 
itable—His  Character  as  Speaker— Anecdotes,  &c 102 


CONTENTS.  9 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Account  of  Mr.  Clay's  Intercourse  with  General  Jackson — Beverley  Carter's  Letter- 
General  Jackson  the  Accuser  of  Mr.  Clay — Mr.  Buchanan — Final  Refutation  of  the 
Slander — Mr.  Adams's  Testimony — Repeated  more  strongly  in  1843 — Opposition  to 
Mr.  Adams's  Administration — Its  Character — John  Randolph's  Assaults — His  Duel 
with  Mr.  Clay— Last  Interview  with  Mr.  Clay  in  1833— Impaired  State  of  Mr.  Clay's 
Health — Qualifications  for  the  Secretaryship — The  Panama  Instructions — Objects 
proposed  in  the  Panama  Congress — Mr.  Clay's  Letter  to  Mr.  M'ddleton — His  Nego 
tiations  while  Secretary  of  State — Treaties — Documents  from  his  Pen — Policy  of 
Mr.  Adams's  Administration— Coalition  of  the  Opposition— Their  Consistency— The 
Colonial  Bill — Mr.  Van  Buren — Modes  of  Attack — Federalism  and  Democracy — Jack- 
sonism  and  Federalism  identified — Presidential  Election  of  1828 — Choice  of  Andrew 
Jackson — Economy  under  Adams,  Jackson,  and  Van  Buren — Mr.  Clay's  Views 
toward  the  new  Administration — He  leaves  Washington — Gross  Attempt  to  injure 
his  Private  Credit— His  Letter  to  R.  Wickliffe,  Esq 112 

CHAPTER  X. 

Air.  Clay's  Return  to  Kentucky — Triumphant  Reception — Public  Dinners — Speeches — 
Mr.  Clay  and  the  Colonization  Society — His  Sentiments  on  Slavery — Abolition  Peti 
tions — Visit  to  New  Orleans — Natchez — Complimentary  Reception  by  the  Louisiana 
House  of  Representatives — Visit  to  Ohio — Dines  with  the  Mechanics  at  Columbus — 
His  Election  to  the  United  States  Senate  in  1831— Nomination  to  the  Presidency— 
The  Tariff— Defence  of  the  American  System— Mr.  Clay's  Estimate  of  the  Irish  Char 
acter—Reduction  of  Duties— Letter  of  T.  H.  Benton 130 

CHAPTER  XL 

Reception  of  the  Amended  Tariff  at  the  South— Progress  of  Nullification— Re-Election 
of  General  Jackson — Proclamation — The  Protective  System  in  Danger — The  En 
forcement  Bill — Perilous  State  of  Affairs — Henry  Clay  comes  Forward  with  his  Plan 
for  a  Compromise — Origin  of  that  Measure — Particulars  in  Regard  to  it — Mr.  Clayton 
of  Delaware— Anecdote— Leading  Motives  of  Mr.  Clay— Statement  of  Hon.  H.  A.  S. 
Dearborn — Passage  of  the  Compromise  Bill — Public  Gratitude — Characteristics  of 
Mr.  Clay's  Public  Career — His  Visit  to  New-England — Triumphal  Reception — Hon 
ors  paid  to  him  on  his  Route .  .138 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Public  Lands — Anecdote — Mr.  Clay's  Report — Its  Provisions — Passage  of  the  Land 
Bill— It  is  Vetoed  by  Gen.  Jackson— Right  of  the  Old  States  to  a  Share  in  the  Public 
Domain — Mr.  Clay's  Efforts — Adjustment  of  the  Question — Mr.  Van  Buren's  Nomina 
tion  as  Minister  to  England— Opposed  by  Mr.  Clay... 148 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Fhe  Currency  Question — General  Jackson's  "  Humble  Efforts"  to  improve  our  Condi 
tion— Recharter  of  the  United  States  Bank,  and  the  President's  Veto— Mr.  Clay's 
Speech  upon  the  Subject — Character  of  the  Veto  Power — Removal  of  the  Deposites 
— Secretaries  Duane  and  Taney — Mr.  Clay's  Relations  toward  the  Bank — His  Resolu 
tions  in  Regard  to  the  Removal  of  the  Deposites — His  Speech — Anecdote — Passage 
of  Mr.  Clay's  Resolutions— The  Protest— Its  Doctrines— Eloquent  Debates  in  the 
Senate — Mr.  Leigh — Interesting  Incident — The  Protest  excluded  from  the  Journal — 
Unremitted  Exertions  of  Mr.  Clay — Public  Distress — Memorials — Forcible  Compari 
son — The  Panic  Session — Anecdote — Mr.  Clay's  Departure  for  Kentucky — Serious 
Accident 155 

A* 


10  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Our  Claims  on  France—  Hostile  Tone  of  General  Jackson's  Message  of  1834—  Recom 
mends  Reprisals  —  Mr.  Clay's  Report  on  the  Subject  —  Discussion  —  Unanimous  Adop 
tion  of  his  Resolution  —  Effect  of  the  Message  —  Speech  on  presenting  the  Cherokee 
Memorial—  Executive  Patronage—  The  Cumberland  Road  ..........................  169 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Settlement  of  our  French  Affairs—  Mr.  Clay's  Land  Bill—  His  Speech—  Passage  of  the 
Bill  in  the  Senate  —  Abolition  Petitions  —  Mr.  Clay  vindicates  the  Right  of  Petition  — 
The  Deposite  Banks  —  Prediction  —  Independence  of  Texas  —  Various  Questions  — 
Return  to  Kentucky  —  Re-elected  Senator  in  1836  —  State  of  the  Country  in  1829  and 
1836  —  A  Contrast  —  Administration  Majority  in  the  Senate  —  Mr.  Calhoun's  Land  Bill  — 
Opposition  of  Mr.  Clay  —  Tariff—  His  two  Compromises  —  The  Specie  Circular  —  Its 
Rescision  —  Benton's  Expunging  Resolution  —  Miscellaneous  ........................  175 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Presidential  Campaign  of  1836—  Mr.  Clay  declines  being  a  Candidate—  Result—  Mr 
Van  Buren's  Policy  —  A  Retrospect  —  Democratic  Doctrine  —  Issue  of  the  "  Experi 
ment"  —  The  Extra  Session  —  Mr.  Van  Buren's  Message  —  The  Sub-Treasury  Scheme  — 
Indications  of  a  Split  in  the  House  —  Discussion  of  the  Sub-Treasury  Bill  —  Mr.  Clay's 
Speeches—  His  Resolution  in  Relation  to  a  Bank—  Treasury-Notes—  Session  of  1837-8 
—Defeat  of  the  Sub-Treasury  Measure—  Mr.  Clay's  Review  of  the  Financial  Projects 
of  the  Administration  —  Various  Subjects  —  His  Outline  of  a  Plan  for  a  National  Bank 
—Mr.  Clay's  Course  on  the  Abolition  Question—  His  Visit  to  New  York  in  the  Sum 
mer  of  1839—  Cordial  Reception,  by  the  People,  of  the  "Man  of  the  People"  .........  185 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Harrisburg  Convention—  Mr.  Clay  the  Choice  of  the  People—  Presidential  Con- 
tests  of  1824  and  1832  —  Intrigues  in  the  Convention  —  Means  employed  to  thwart  the 
Nomination  of  Mr.  Clay  —  Organization  of  the  Convention  —  Nomination  of  General 
Harrison  —  Acquiescence  of  the  Kentucky  Delegation  —  Mr.  Clay's  Letter  —  Remarks 
of  Gov.  Barbour,  Mr.  Leigh,  Mr.  Livingston  —  John  Tyler  nominated  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency-  Grounds  of  the  Nomination  ..........................  .  ..............  195 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Mr.  Clay  again  in  Congress  —  Passage  with  Mr.  Calhoun  —  Reconciliatory  Incident  —  The 
Bankrupt  Bill,  <fcc.  —  The  Sub-Treasury  again  —  A  Government  Bank  —  Mr.  Clay  visits 
his  native  County  of  Hanover—  His  Speech—  Proposed  Reforms  —  He  addresses  the 
Harrison  Convention  at  Nashville  —  Democracy  —  Born  a  Democrat  —  Reminiscence  of 
a  Revolutionary  Incident  ........................................................  200 

CHAPTER  XIX 

Election  of  General  Harrison—  He  visits  Mr.  Clay—  Second  Session  of  the  Twenty-Sixth 
Congress—  Inauguration  and  Death  of  General  Harrison  —  The  Extra  Session  —  Mr. 
Clay's  Labors—  John  Tyler's  Veto  of  the  Bank  Bill—  Mr.  Clay's  Eloquent  Speech  in 
Reply  to  Mr.  Rives  —  The  Van  Buren  Men  in  Congress  call  to  congratulate  John 
Tyler  on  his  Veto  —  Mr.  Clay's  Fanciful  Description  of  the  Scene  —  Events  succeeding 
the  Veto—  More  Vetoes—  The  Tariff—  Mr.  Clay  resigns  his  Seat  in  the  Senate- 
Impressive  Farewell  ............................................................  203 


I 


CONTENTS.  It 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Return  to  Kentucky— Speech  at  Lexington— Visits  Indiana— Scene  with  Mr.  Menden- 
haD— Remarks  on  Slavery— Personal  Matters— Slanders  refuted— The  Dayton  Con 
vention — Visit  to  the  Southwest — Triumphal  Progress — Return  Home — Contemplated 
Visit  to  the  Southeast— Letters  on  the  Tariff— Letter  to  the  Whigs  of  Fayette  County, 
Vet.,  _i  Regard  to  John  Tyler — Again  visits  New  Oi leans — Addresses  the  Whig  Con 
vention—Leaves  New  Orleans  on  his  Way  to  North  Carolina 21 1 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

A  Retrospect— The  Harrisburg  Convention— A  Mistake  committed— Mr.  Clay's  Rela- 
tions  toward  Gen.  Harrison — Anecdotes — Mr.  Clay  and  John  Tyler 211 

CHAPTER  XXIL 

Mr.  Clay  is  nominated  for  the  Presidency— He  returns  to  Kentucky— The  Texas  Ques 
tion,  and  his  Views  upon  it>— Their  Fulfilment— The  Annexation  Scheme— The  Whig 
Conventions  at  Baltimore — Mr.  Clay  accepts  the  Nomination  for  the  Presidency — 
The  Democratic  Convention — Party  Preparations — Old  Slanders  revived — The  Elec 
tion  and  the  Result 226 

CHAPTER  XXIH 

How  the  Whigs  were  defeated— The  Foreign  Vote— Native  Americanism— The  Lib 
erty  Party  and  Mr.  Birney — False  and  contradictory  Issues — Misrepresentations — 
Frauds— Opposition  to  Registry  Law  presumptive  Proof— Public  Confidence  in  Mr. 
Clay 247 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  Consequences  of  the  Election— The  War— How  commenced— Mr.  Gallatin's  State 
ment—Mr.  Clay  on  the  War— Comparison  with  the  Last  War— The  Twenty-Ninth 
Congress — State  of  the  Country — The  Tariff  and  the  Sub-Treasury,  tc. *.258 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Testimonials  in  Honor  of  Mr.  Clay — Instance  of  the  Devotion  of  his  Friends — His 
Address  on  receiving  a  Vase  from  Ladies  of  Tennessee — A  Visitor's  Description  of 
Mr.  Clay  at  Ashland — Mr.  Clay  visits  New  Orleans  and  St  Louis — A  Misrepresenta 
tion  noticed — His  Appeal  in  Behalf  of  famishing  Ireland ...266 

CHAPTER  XXVL 

Successes  of  our  Army  in  Mexico— Buena  Vista— Mr.  Clay  receives  News  of  his  Son's 
Death — Letter  of  General  Taylor  announcing  the  Event — Mr.  Clay  joins  the  Church 
—His  Visit  to  Cape  May— Address  of  the  New  York  Delegates,  and  his  Reply 275 

CHAPTER  XXVIL 

Mr.  Clay's  Speech  and  Resolutions  at  Lexington  on  the  Mexican  War— The  Response 
from  the  People 283 

CHAPTER  XXVIIL 

Mr.  Clay  in  Washington— His  Address  before  the  Colonization  Society— His  Appear, 
ance  in  the  Supreme  Court-  :ie  visits  the  White  House— Anecdote—The  Castle- 
Garden  Mwttntf- D«*th  of  Mr.  Adams—Mr  Clay  in  Philadelphia,  In  New  York,  Lo.  ..flM 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Mr.  Clay's  Professional  Career — Chief-Justice  Marshall's  Opinion  of  him — Personal 
Details — His  Popularity,  and  the  Secret  of  it — Traits  of  Character — Richard  M.  John- 
eon's  Eulogy  upon  him — Mr.  Clay's  Habits  of  Life — His  Wife  and  Children — Domes 
tic  and  Social  Relations — Conclusion 31$ 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Mr.  Clay  again  a  Candidate  for  the  Whig  Presidential  Nomination  (1848) — His  Popu 
larity  and  Unpopularity — His  former  Defeats — Objections  to  General  Taylor — The 
Philadelphia  Convention — Its  Ballots — Gen.  Taylor  nominated— Mr.  Clay's  Course — 
Taylor  and  Fillmore  elected 322 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Mr.  Clay  returned  to  the  Senate— Opening  of  the  XXXIst  Congress— Defeat  of  Win- 
throp  for  Speaker — Mr.  Clay  on  Gen.  Cass's  Anti-Austrian  Resolution — On  Congres 
sional  Honors  to  Deceased  Members 329 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Retrospective  Glance  at  the  Annexation  Struggle — Origin  and  Grounds  of  the  War  with 
Mexico — Slavery  in  the  Territories — The  Wilmot  Proviso — The  Disputed  Boundary 
of  Texas — The  Democracy  committed  to  the  Pretensions  of  Texas — therefore  dis* 
abled  for  resisting  the  Extension  of  Slavery — Peril  of  New  Mexico 334 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Mr.  Clay  proposes  a  Compromise — Its  Character  and  Provisions — His  Speech  in  Ex 
position — Protests  of  Messrs.  Foote,  Mason,  Jefferson  Davis,  Downs,  Berrien,  Butler, 
&c. — Progress  of  the  Discussion — Formation  and  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Thir 
teen — Discussion  and  Defeat  of  the  '  Omnibus  Bill' — Its  Passage  in  Fragments — 
Mr.  Clay's  Objects 339 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Aessjon  of  1850-'51— Mr.  Clay  on  the  Tariff  Question— The  Great  Struggle  on  the  River 
and  Harbor  Bill — Authors  and  Means  of  its  Defeat — Mr.  Clay's  Efforts  to  pass  it — 
Dodges  and  Dodgers — Close  of  Mr.  Clay's  Legislative  Career 35i 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Executive  or  Called  Session — Constructive  Mileago — Mr.  Clay's  Compromise  Letter  to 
his  New  York  Friends— XXXIId  Congress— Mr.  Clay's  Health  failing— His  Inter 
view  with  Kossuth — He  prefers  Mr.  Fillmore  for  President — Gradually  sinks — His 
Religious  Convictions— His  Death 365 

CHAPTER  XXXVI 

Announcement  in  the  Senate  and  House — Remarks  of  Messrs.  Underwood,  Cass,  Hun 
ter,  Hale,  Clemens,  Cooper,  Seward,  G.  W.  Jones,  and  W.  Brooke,  in  the  Sen 
ate — Prayer  of  the  Chaplain — Remarks  of  Messrs.  Breckinridge,  Ewing,  Caskie, 
Chandler,  Bayly,  Venable,  Haven,  James  Brooks,  Faulkner,  Parker,  Gentry,  Bowie, 
and  Walsh,  in  the  House — Funeral  at  the  Capitol — Rev.  Mr.  Butler's  Sermon — De 
parture  of  the  Funeral  Cortege— Its  Reception  in  Baltimore,  Washington,  New  York, 
Albany,  Cincinnati,  &c. — Funeral  at  Lexington 371 

POETIC  TRIBCTES 425 


I 


Fv8 

OF  THK 

ERSITY 


LIFE 

OF 

HENRY    CLAY. 

i. 

HIS  YOUTH  AND  EARLY  MANHOOD. 

HENRY  CLAY  is  a  native  of  Hanover  county,  Virginia.  He 
was  born  on  the  12th  of  April,  1777,  in  a  district  of  country 
familiarily  known  in  the  neighborhood  as  the  Slas/ias.  His 
father,  a  baptist  clergyman,  died  during  the  revolutionary  war, 
bequeathing  a  small  and  much-embarrassed  estate  and  seven 
children,  ot'^whom  Henry  was  the  fifth,  to  the  care  of  an  affec 
tionate  mother.  The  surviving  parent  did  not  possess  the  means 
to  give  her  sons  a  classical  education ;  and  the  subject  of  our 
memoir  received  no  other  instruction  than  such  as  could  be  ob 
tained  in  the  log-cabin  school-houses^  still  common  in  the  lower 
parts  of  Virginia,  at  which  spelling  reading,  writing,  and  arith^ 
metic,  are  taught. 

"  in  1792,  his  mother,  who  had  become  united,  in  a  second  mar 
riage,  with  Mr.  Henry  Watkins,  removed  to  Woodford  county, 
Kentucky,  taking  all  her  children,  with  the  exception  of  Henry 
and  his  oldest  brother.  It  was  always  a  subject  of  regret  with 
Mr.  Clay,  that  he  was  deprived  at  so  early  an  age  of  his  mother's 
counsel,  conversation,  and  care.  She  was  a  woman  of  great 
strength  of  mind,  and  was  tenderly  attached  to  her  children. 

He  had  been  only  five  years  old  when  he  lost  his  father ;  and, 
consequently,  his  circumstances  in  early  life,  if  not  actually  in 
digent,  were  such  as  to  subject  him  frequently  to  hard  manual 
labor.  He  has  ploughed  in  cornfields,  many  a  summer-day, 


14  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

withou.  shoes,  and  with  no  other  clothes  on  than  a  pair  of  Osna- 
burg  trowsers,  and  a  coarse  shirt.  He  has  often  gone  to  mill 
with  grain  to  be  ground  into  meal  or  flour ;  and  there  are  those 
who  remember  his  youthful  visits  to  Mrs.  Darricott's  mill,  on  the 
Pamunkey  river.  On  such  occasions  he  generally  rode  a  horse 
without  a  saddle,  while  a  rope  supplied  the  place  of  a  bridle. 
But  in  the  absence  of  a  more  splendid  equipment,  a  bag  contain 
ing  three  or  four  bushels  of  wheat  or  corn  was  generally  thrown 
across  the  horse's  back,  mounted  upon  which  the  future  states 
man  would  go  to  mill,  get  the  grain  ground,  and  return  with  it 
home. 

At  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  was  placed  in  a  small  retail  store, 
kept  by  Mr.  Richard  Denny,  near  the  market-house  in  the  city 
of  Richmond.  He  remained  here  till  the  next  year  (1792), 
when  he  was  transferred  to  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  high 
court  of  chancery,  Mr  Peter  Tinsley.  There  he  became  ac 
quainted  with  the  venerable  Chancellor  Wythe,  attracted  his 
friendly,  attention,  and  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  his  instruction  and 
conversation.  The  chancellor  being  unable  to  write  well,  in 
consequence  of  the  gout  or  rheumatism  in  his  right  thumb,  be 
thought  himself  of  employing  his  young  friend  as  an  amanuensis. 
This  was  a  fortunate  circumstance  for  the  fatherless  boy.  His 
attention  was  thus  called  to  the  structure  of  sentences,  as  he 
wrote  them  down  from  the  dictation  of  his  employer ;  and  a 
laste  for  the  study  of  grammar  was  created  which  was  noticed 
and  encouraged  by  the  chancellor,  upon  whose  recommendation 
he  read  Harris's  Hermes,  Tooke's  Diversions  of  Purley,  Bishop 
Lowth's  Grammar,  and  other  similar  works. 

For  his  handwriting,  which  is  still  remarkably  n^t  and  regu 
lar,  Mr.  Clay  was  chiefly  indebted  to  Mr.  Tinslg^r  Chancellor 
Wythe  was  devoted  to  the  study  of  Greek.  He  was  at  one  time 
occupied  in  preparing  reports  of  his  decisions,  and  commenting 
upon  those  of  the  court  of  appeals,  by  which  some  of  his  were 
reversed  ;  and  in  this  work  he  was  assisted  by  his  amanuensis. 
After  the  reports  were  published,  he  sent  copies  fo  Mr.  Jeffer 
son,  John  Adams,  Samuel  Adams,  and  others.  In  these  copies 
he  employed  Henry  Clay  to  copy  particular  passages  from  Greek 
authors,  to  whom  references  had  been  made  Not  understand- 


REMOVES    TO    KENTUCKY.  15 

ing  a  single  Greek  character,  the  young  copyist  had  to  transcribe 
by  imitation  letter  after  letter. 

Leaving  the  office  of  Mr.  Tinsley  the  latter  part  of  1796,  he 
went  to  reside  with  the  late  Robert  Brooke,  Esq.,  the  attorney- 
general,  formerly  governor  of  Virginia.  His  only  regular  study 
of  the  law  was  during  the  year  1797,  that  he  lived  with  Mr. 
Brooke  ;  but  it  was  impossible  that  he  should  not,  in  the  daily 
scenes  he  witnessed,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  eminent  men 
whom  he  so  often  heard  and  saw,  be  in  the  way  of  gathering 
much  valuable  legal  information.  During  his  residence  of  six 
or  seven  years  in  Richmond,  he  became  acquainted  with  all  or 
most  of  the  eminent  Virginians  of  the  period,  who  lived  in  that 
city,  or  were  in  the  habit  of  resorting  to  it — with  Edmond  Pen- 
dleton,  Spencer  Roane,  Chief- Justice  Marshall,  Bushrod  Wash 
ington,  Wickham,  Call,  Copeland,  &c.  On  two  occasions,  he 
had  the  good  fortune  to  hear  Patrick  Henry  —  once,  before  the 
circuit  court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Virginia  district,  on 
the  question  of  the  payment  of  the  British  debts  ;  and  again  be 
fore 'the  house  of  delegates  of  Virginia,  on  the  claim  of  the 
supernumerary  officers  in  the  service  of  the  state  during  the 
revolutionary  war.  Mr.  Clay  remembers  that  remarkable  man, 
his  appearance  and  his  manner,  distinctly.  The  impression  of 
his  eloquent  powers  remaining  on  his  mind  is,  that  their  charm 
consisted  mainly  in  one  of  the  finest  voices  ever  heard,  in  his 
graceful  gesticulation,  and  the  va.iety  and  force  of  expression 
which  he  exhibited  in  his  face. 

Henry  Clay  quitted  Richmond  in  November,  1797,  his  eldest 
brother  having  died  while  he  yet  resided  in  that  city.  Bearing 
a  license  from  the  judges  of  the  Virginia  court  of  appeals  to 
practise  law,  he  established  himself  in  Lexington,  Kentucky. 
He  was  without  patrons,  without  the  countenance  of  influential  \/ 
friends,  and  destitute  of  the  means  of  paying  his  weekly  board. 
"  I  remember,"  says  he,  in  his  speech  of  June,  1842,  at  Lexing 
ton,  "  how  comfortable  I  thought  I  should  be,  if  I  could  make 
£100  Virginia  money  per  year;  and  with  what  delight  I  re 
ceived  the  first  fifteen-shilling  fee.  My  hopes  were  more  than 
realized.  I  immediately  rushed  into  a  lucrative  practice." 

Before  assuming  the  active  responsibilities  of  his  profession,  \ 


J6  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

he  devoted  himself  with  assiduity  several  months  to  his  legal 
studies.  Even  at  that  period  the  bar  of  Lexington  was  eminent 
for  its  ability.  Among  its  members  were  George  Nicholas, 
James  Hughes,  John  Breckenbridge,  James  Brown,  William 
Murray,  and  others,  whose  reputation  was  sufficient  to  discour 
age  the  most  stout-hearted  competition.  But  true  genius  is  rarely 
unaccompanied  by  a  consciousness  of  its  power ;  and  the  friend 
less  and  unknown  youth  from  Virginia  fearlessly  entered  the 
field,  which,  to  a  less  intrepid  spirit,  would  have  seemed  pre 
occupied.  He  soon  commanded  consideration  and  respect.  He 
was  familiar  with  the  technicalities  of  practice  ;  and  early  habits 
of  business  and  application,  enabled  him  to  effect  an  easy  mastery 
of  the  cases  intrusted  to  his  charge.  Hi&  mbtle  appreciation  of 
character,  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  faculties  of  persua 
sion,  rendered  him  peculiarly  successful  in  his  appeals  to  a 
jury ;  and  he  obtained  great  celebrity  for  his  adroit  and  careful 
management  of  criminal  cases. 

An  anecdote  is  related  of  him  about  the  time  of  his  mst  en 
trance  upon  his  profession,  which  shows  that,  notwithstanding 
his  fine  capacities,  he  had  some  native  diffidence  to  overcome 
before  they  were  fairly  tested.  He  had  joined  a  debating  soci 
ety,  and  at  one  of  the  meetings  the  vote  was  about  to  be  taken 
upon  the  question  under  discussion,  when  he  remarked  in  a  low 
but  audible  whisper,  that  the  subject  did  not  appear  to  him  to 
have  been  exhausted. 

"Do  not  put  the  question  yet — Mr.  Clay  will  speak,"  ex 
claimed  a  member,  who  had  overheard  the  half-hesitating  re 
mark. 

The  chairman  instantly  took  the  hint,  and  nodded  to  the  young 
lawyer  in  token  of  his  readiness  to  hear  what  he  had  to  say. 
With  every  indication  of  extreme  embarrassment,  he  rose,  and  in 
his  confusion,  began  by  saying:  "  Gentlemen  of  the  jury" — un 
consciously  addressing  his  fellow-members  as  the  tribunal,  to 
which  he  had  perhaps  often  made  imaginary  appeals  in  his 
dreams  of  a  successful  debut  at  the  bar.  His  audience  did  not 
add  to  his  agitation  by  seeming  to  notice  it,  and,  after  floundering 
and  blushing  for  a  moment  or  two,  and  stammering  out  a  repetition 
of  the  words,  "  Gentlemen  of  the  jury,"  he  suddenly  shook  off  all 


INSTANCES    OF    HIS    ELOQUENCE.  17 

signs  of  distrust  and  timidity,  and  launched  into  his  subject  with 
a  promptitude  and  propriety  of  elocution,  which  excited  general 
surprise. 

To  those  familiar  with  the  perfect  self-possession  of  Mr.  Clay's 
manner  in  after-life  upon  all  occasions,  the  most  trying  and 
unexpected,  this  instance  will  present  an  amusing  contrast ;  for 
the  evidence  is  not  on  record  of  his  ever  having  failed  for  an  in 
stant  in  his  resources  of  repartee  or  of  argument  in  debate. 

Shortly  after  this  early  essay  in  public  speaking,  he  was  ad 
mitted  as  a  practitioner  before  the  Fayette  court  of  quarter  ses 
sions,  a  court  of  general  jurisdiction.  Business  soon  poured  in 
upon  him,  and  during  the  first  term  he  had  a  handsome  practice. 
His  manners  and  address,  both  in  personal  intercourse  and  be 
fore  a  jury,  were  unusually  captivating.  Frank  ja  avowing  his 
sentiments,  and  bold  and  consistent  in  maintaining  them,  he  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  character  for  sincerity  and  honor,  which  amid 
all  the  shocks  of  political  changes  and  the  scurrility  of  partisan 
warfare,  has  never  been  shaken  or  tainted.  In  the  possession 
of  these  attributes,  beyond  the  reach  of  cavil  or  of  question,  is  to 
be  found  the  secret  of  that  inalienable  attachment  among  the 
vast  body  of  his  friends,  which  has  followed  him  throughout  his 
career. 

One  of  the  most  important  cases,  in  which  Mr.  Clay  was  en 
gaged  during  the  first  three  or  four  years  of  his  professional  life, 
was  that  in  which  he  was  employed  to  defend  a  Mrs.  Phelps, 
indicted  for  murder.  This  woman  was  the  wife  of  a  respectable 
farmer,  and  until  the  time  of  the  act  for  which  she  was  arraigned, 
had  led  a  blameless  and  correct  life.  One  day,  in  her  own 
house,  taking  some  offence  at  a  Miss  Phelps,  her  sister-in-law, 
she  levelled  a  gun,  and  shot  her  through  the  heart.  The  poor 
girl  had  only  time  to  exclaim,  "  Sister,  you  have  killed  me,"  and 
expired.  Great  interest  was  excited  in  the  case,  and  the  court 
was  crowded  to  overflowing  on  the  day  of  trial.  Of  the  fact  of 
the  homicide  ther^  could  be  no  doubt.  It  was  committed  in  the 
presence  of  witnesses,  and  the  only  question  was  to  what  class 
of  crimes  did  the  offence  belong.  If  it  were  pronounced  murder 
in  the  first  degree,  the  life  of  the  wretched  prisoner  would  be  the 
forfeit ;  but,  if  manslaughter^  she  would  be  purished  merely  by 


18  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

confinement  in  the  jail  or  penitentiary.  The  legal  contest  was 
long  and  able.  The  efforts  of  the  connsel  for  the  prosecution 
were  strenuous  and  earnest ;  but  Mr.  Clay  succeeded  in  not  only 
saving  the  life  of  his  client,  but  so  moved  the  jury  in  her  behalf 
by  his  eloquence,  that  her  punishment  was  made  as  light  as  the 
law  would  allow.  He  gained  much  distinction  by  the  ability 
he  displayed  in  this  case,  and  thenceforth  it  was  considered  a 
great  object  to  enlist  his  assistance  in  all  criminal  pursuits  on  the 
part  of  the  defendant.  It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  in  the  course 
of  a  very  extensive  practice  in  the  courts  of  criminal  jurispru 
dence,  and  in  the  defence  of  a  large  number  of  individuals  ar 
raigned  for  capital  offences,  he  never  had  one  of  his  clients  sen 
tenced  to  death. 

Another  case,  in  which  he  acquired  scarcely  less  celebrity, 
was  shortly  afterward  tried  in  Harrison  county.  Two  Germans, 
father  and  son,  had  been  indicted  for  murder.  The  deed  of  kil 
ling  was  proved  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  court,  and  was 
considered  an  aggravated  murder.  Mr.  Clay's  efforts  were  there 
fore  directed  to  saving  their  lives.  The  trial  occupied  five  days, 
and  his  closing  appeal  to  the  jury  was  of  the  most  stirring  and 
pathetic  description.  It  proved  irresistible,  for  they  returned  a 
verdict  of  manslaughter.  Not  satisfied  with  this  signal  triumph, 
he  moved  an  arrest  of  judgment,  and,  after  another  day's  contest, 
prevailed  in  this  also.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  prisoners 
were  discharged  without  even  the  punishment  of  the  crime,  of 
which  the  jury  had  found  them  guilty. 

An  amusing  incident  occurred  at  the  conclusion  of  this  trial. 
\n  old,  withered,  ill-favored  German  woman,  who  was  the  wife 
of  the  elder  prisoner,  and  the  mother  of  the  younger,  on  being 
informed  of  the  success  of  the  final  motion  for  an  arrest  of  judg 
ment,  and  the  consequent  acquittal  of  her  husband  and  son,  ran 
toward  the  young  advocate,  in  the  excess  of  her  gratitude  and 
joy,  and  throwing  her  arms  about  his  neck,  kissed  him  in  the 
eyes  of  the  crowded  court.  Although  taken  wholly  by  surprise, 
and  hardly  flattered  by  blandishments  from  such  a  source,  young 
Clay  acquitted  himself  upon  the  occasion,  with  a  grace  and  good 
humor,  which  won  him  new  applause  from  the  spectators.  All 
great  emotions  claim  respect ;  and  in  this  instance  so  far  did  the 


HIS    SUCCESS    AS    A    LAWYER.  19 

sympathies  of  the  audience  go  with  the  old  woman  as  to  divest 
of  ridicule  an  act,  which,  in  the  recital,  may  seem  to  have  parta 
ken  principally  of  the  ludicrous. 

Notwithstanding  his  extraordinary  success  in  all  the  criminal 
suits  intrusted  to  him,  the  abilities  displayed  by  Mr.  Clay  at  this 
period  in  civil  cases  were  no  less  brilliant  and  triumphant.  In 
suits  growing  out  of  the  land  laws  of  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  he 
was  especially  distinguished  ;  rapidly  acquiring  wealth  and  pop 
ularity  by  his  practice.  It  is  related  of  him,  that  on  one  occasion, 
in  conjunction  with  another  attorney,  he  was  employed  to  argue, 
in  the  Fayette  circuit  court,  a  question  of  great  difficulty  —  one 
in  which  the  interests  of  the  litigant  parties  were  deeply  involved. 
At  the  opening  of  the  court,  something  occurred  to  call  him 
away,  and  the  whole  management  of  the  case  devolved  on  his 
associate  counsel.  Two  days  were  spent  in  discussing  the  points 
of  law,  which  were  to  govern  the  instructions  of  the  court  to  the 
jury,  and  on  all  of  these  points,  Mr.  Clay's  colleague  was  foiled, 
by  his  antagonist.  At  the  end  of  the  second  day,  Mr.  Clay  re- 
entered  the  court.  He  had  not  heard  a  word  of  the  testimony, 
and  knew  nothing  of  the  course  which  the  discussion  had  taken  ; 
but,  after  holding  a  very  short  consultation  with  his  colleague,  he 
drew  up  a  statement  of  the  form  in  which  he  wished  the  instruc 
tions  of  the  court  to  be  given  to  the  jury,  and  accompanied  his 
petition  with  a  few  observations,  so  entirely  novel  and  satisfac 
tory,  that  it  was  granted  without  the  least  hesitation.  A  corre 
sponding  verdict  was  instantly  returned  ;  and  thus  the  case,  which 
had  been  on  the  point  of  being  decided  against  Mr.  Clay's  client, 
resulted  in  his  favor  in  less  than  half  an  hour  after  the  young 
lawyer  had  entered  the  courthouse. 

For  an  enumeration  of  the  various  cases  in  which  Mr.  Clay 
was  about  this  time  engaged,  and  in  which  his  success  was  as 
marked  as  his  talents  were  obvious,  we  must  refer  the  curious 
reader  to  the  records,  of  the  courts  of  Kentucky,  and  hasten  to 
exhibit  the  subject  of  our  memoir  on  that  more  extended  field, 
where  his  history  began  to  be  interwoven  with  the  history  of  his 
country,  and  a  whole  nation  hailed  him  as  a  champion  worthy  of 
the  best  days  of  the  republic. 

As  early  as  1797,  when  the  people  of  Kentucky  were  about. 


20  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAV 

electing  a  convention  to  form  a  new  constitution  for  that  state 
Mr.  Clay  may  be  said  to  have  commenced  his  political  career 
His  first  efforts  were  made  on  behalf  of  human  liberty,  and  at  the 
risk  of  losing  that  breeze  of  popular  favor,  which  was  wafting  on 
his  bark  bravely  toward  the  haven  of  worldly  prosperity  and  re 
nown. 

The  most  important  feature  in  the  plan  for  a  new  constitution 
submitted  to  the  people  of  Kentucky,  was  a  provision  for  the 
prospective  eradication  of  slavery  from  the  state  by  means  of  a 
gradual  emancipation  of  those  held  in  bondage.  Against  this 
proposal  a  tremendous  outcry  was  at  once  raised.  It  was  not  to 
be  questioned  that  the  voice  of  the  majority  was  vehemently  op 
posed  to  it.  But  young  Clay  did  not  hesitate  as  to  his  course. 
In  that  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  which  he  has  since  displayed  on 
so  many  occasions,  in  great  public  emergencies,  without  stopping 
to  reckon  the  disadvantages  to  himself,  he  boldly  arrayed  himself 
on  the  side  of  those  friendly  to  emancipation.  In  the  canvass, 
which  preceded  the  election  of  members  of  the  convention,  he 
exerted  himself  with  all  the  energy  of  his  nature  in  behalf  of 
that  cause,  which  he  believed  to  be  the  cause  of  truth  and  justice. 
With  his  voice  and  pen  he  actively  labored  to  promote  the  choice 
of  delegates  who  were  pledged  to  its  support.  He  failed  in  the 
fulfilment  of  his  philanthropic  intentions,  and  incurred  temporary 
unpopularity  by  his  course.  Time,  however,  is  daily  making 
more  apparent  the  wisdom  of  hiy  counsel. 

Mr.  Clay  has  not  faltered  in  his  views  upon  this  great  ques 
tion.  They  are  now  what  they  were  in  1797,  In  maintaining 
the  policy  of  this  scheme  of  gradual  emancipation  he  has  ever 
been  fearless  and  consistent.  Let  it  not  be  imagined,  however, 
that  he  has  any  sympathy  with  that  incendiary  spirit  which  would 
seem  to  actuate  some  of  the  clamorers  for  immediate  and  uncon 
ditional  abolition  at  the  present  time.  His  views  were  far- 
sighted,  statesman-like,  and  sagacious.  He  looked  to  the  general 
good,  not  merely  of  his  contemporaries  but  of  posterity ;  and  his 
plan  stretched  beyond  the  embarrassments  of  the  present  hour 
into  the  future.  A  more  just,  practicable,  and  beneficent  scheme 
than  his,  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  consummation  so  devoutly 
to  be  wished  by  humanity  at  large,  could  not  have  been  devised. 


HIS    ErFORTS    IN    FAVOR    OF    EMANCIPATION.  2) 

It  resembled  that  adopted  in  Pennsylvania  in  the  year  1780  at 
the  instance  of  Dr.  Franklin,  according  to  which,  the  generation 
in  being  were  to  remain  in  bondage,  but  all  their  offspring,  born 
aftei  a  specified  day,  were  to  be  free  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight, 
and,  in  the  meantime,  were  to  receive  preparatory  instruction  to 
qualify  them  for  t]je  enjoyment  of  freedom.  Mr.  Clay  thought 
with  many  others,  that,  as  the  slave  states  had  severally  the  right 
to  judge,  every  one  exclusively  for  itself,  in  respect  to  the  insti 
tution  of  domestic  slavery,  the  proportion  of  slaves  to  the  white 
population  in  Kentucky  at  that  time  was  so  inconsiderable,  that 
a  system  of  gradual  emancipation  might  have  been  adopted 
without  any  hazard  to  the  security  and  interests  of  the  common 
wealth. 

Recently  a  charge  was  made  by  the  principal  opposition  paper 
at  the  south,  that  Mr.  Clay  had  joined  the  abolitionists  ;  and  the 
ground  of  the  charge  was  the  averment  that  he  had  written  a  let 
ter  to  Mr.  Giddings,  of  Ohio,  approving  the  leading  views  of  that 
party.  Upon  inquiry,  it  appeared,  however,  that  the  letter  was 
written  by  Cassius  M.  Clay,  a  namesake.  In  noticing  the  erro 
neous  statement,  Mr.  Clay  remarked,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  :  "  I 
do  not  write  letters  for  different  latitudes.  I  have  but  one  heart, 
and  one  mind  ;  and  all  my  letters  are  but  copies  of  the  original, 
and  if  genuine,  will  be  found  to  conform  to  it  wherever  they  may 
be  addressed." 

Would  that  every  candidate  for  the  presidency  might  say  this 
with  equal  sincerity  and  truth ! 

Notwithstanding  the  failure  of  his  exertions  in  arresting  the 
continuance  of  negro  servitude  in  Kentucky,  Mr.  Clay  has  never 
shrunk  from  the  avowal  of  his  sentiments  upon  the  subject,  nor 
from  their  practical  manifestations  in  his  professional  and  politi 
cal  career.  For  several  years,  whenever  a  slave  brought  an  ac 
tion  at  law  for  his  liberty,  Mr.  Clay  volunteered  as  his  advocate  ; 
and  he  always  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  decision  in  the  slave's 
favor.  Opposition  in  every  shape  would  seem  to  have  roused 
the  most  ardent  sympathies  of  his  soul,  and  to  have  enlisted  his 
indignant  eloquence  in  behalf  of  its  unfriended  object.  The  im 
pulses,  which  urged  him  at  this  early  day  to  take  the  part  of  the 
domestic  bondsmen  of  his  own  state,  were  the  same  with  those 


33  LIFfc    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

by  which  he  was  instigated,  when  the  questions  of  recognising 
South  American  and  Grecian  independence  were  presented  to 
the  consideration  of  a  tardy  and  calculating  Congress. 

During  the  administration  of  John  Adams,  1798-'9,  the  famous 
alien  and  sedition  laws  were  passed.  The  popular  opposition 
with  which  these  extraordinary  measures  were  received,  is  still 
vividly  remembered  in  the  United  States.  By  the  "  alien  law," 
the  president  was  authorized  to  order  any  alien,  whom  "he  should 
judge  dangerous  to  the  peace  and  safety"  of  the  country,  "  to  de 
part  out  of  the  territory  within  such  time"  as  he  shoftld  judge 
proper,  upon  penalty  of  being  "  imprisoned  for  a  term  not  exceed 
ing  three  years,"  &c. 

The  "  sedition  law"  was  designed  to  punish  the  abuse  of 
speech  and  of  the  press.  It  imposed  a  heavy  pecuniary  fine,  and 
imprisonment  for  a  ternf\)f  years,  upon  such  as  should  combine 
or  conspire  together  to  oppose  any  measure  of  government :  upon 
such  as  should  write,  print,  utter,  publish,  &c.,  "any  false,  scan 
dalous  and  malicious  writing  against  the  government  of  the  United 
States  or  the  president,"  &c. 

Mr.  Clay  stood  forth  one  of  the  earliest  champions  of  popular 
rights  in  opposition  to  these  memorable  laws.  Kentucky  was 
one  of  the  first  states  that  launched  their  thunders  against  them  ; 
and  though  many  speakers  came  forward  to  give  expression  to 
the  indignation  which  was  swelling  in  the  public  heart,  none 
succeeded  so  well  in  striking  the  responsive  chord  as  our  young 
lawyer.  He  was  soon  regarded  as  the  leading  sp;"lc  of  the  op 
position  party ;  and  it  was  about  this  time  that  ^  title  of  "  THE 
GREAT  COMMONER"  was  bestowed  upon  hii£. 

A  gentleman,  who  was  present  at  a  meeting  where  these  ob 
noxious  laws  were  discussed,  describes  the  effect  produced  by 
Mr.  Clay's  eloquence  as  difficult  adequately  to  describe.  The 
populace  had  assembled  in  the  fields  in  the  vicinity  of  Lexington, 
and  were  first  addressed  by  Mr.  George  Nicholas,  a  distinguished 
man,  and  a  powerful  speaker.  The  speech  of  Mr.  Nicholas  was 
long  and  eloquent,  and  he  was  greeted  by  the  most  enthusiastic 
cheers  as  he  concluded.  Clay  being  called  for,  promptly  ap 
peared,  and  made  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  and  impressive 
hinngues  ever  addressed  to  a  popular  assembly.  A  striking 


ELECTED    TO    THE    STATE    LEGISLATURE.  23 

evidence  of  its  thrilling  and  effective  character,  may  be  found  in 
the  fact  that  when  he  ceased,  there  was  no  shout-  no  applause. 
So  eloquently  had  he  interpreted  the  deep  feelings  of  the  multi 
tude,  that  they  forgot  the  orator  in  the  absorbing  emotions  he  had 
produced.  A  higher  compliment  can  hardly  be  conceived.  The 
theme  was  a  glorious  one  for  a  young  and  generous  mind,  filled 
with  ardor  in  behalf  of  human  liberty — and  he  did  it  justice. 
The  people  took  Clay  and  Nicholas  upon  their  shoulders,  and 
forcing  them  into  a  carriage,  drew  them  through  the  streets,  amid 
shouts  of  applause.  What  an  incident  for  an  orator,  who  had  not 
yet  completed  his  twenty-second  year  ! 

Four  years  afterward,  when  Mr.  Clay  was  absent  from  the  county 
of  Fayette,  at  the  Olympian  springs,  he  was  brought  forward,  with 
out  his  knowledge  or  previous  consent,  as  a  candidate,  and  elected 
to  the  general  assembly  of  Kentucky.  He  soon  made  his  influence 
felt  in  that  body.^  In  1804,  Mr.  Felix  Grundy,  then  an  adroit  and 
well-known  politician,  made  an  attempt  in  the  legislature,  to  pro 
cure  the  repeal  of  a  law  incorporating  the  Lexington  Insurance 
Office.  He  was  opposed  at  every  step  by  Mr.  Clay  ;  and  the  war 
of  words  between  the  youthful  debaters,  drew  to  the  hall  of  the 
house  throngs  of  spectators.  Grundy  had  managed  to  secure 
beforehand  a  majority  in  his  favor  in  the  house  ;  but  the  members 
of  the  senate  flocked  in  to  hear  Clay  speak,  and  so  cogently  did 
he  present  to  their  understandings  the  impolicy  and  unconstitu 
tionally  of  the  measure  under  discussion,  that  they  refused  to 
sanction  it  after  it  had  been  passed  by  the  other  branch,  and  a 
virtual  triumph  was  thus  obtained. 

It  is  recorded  of  Mr.  Clay,  that,  in  the  course  of  the  legislative 
session  of  1805,  he  made  an  effort  to  procure  the  removal  of  the 
seat  of  government  from  Frankfort ;  and  his  speech  on  the  occa 
sion  is  said  to  have  been  an  inimitable  specimen  of  argument  and 
humor.  Frankfort  is  peculiar  in  its  appearance  and  situation, 
being  sunk,  like  a  huge  pit,  below  the  surrounding  country,  and 
environed  by  rough  and  precipitous  ledges.  "  We  have,"  said 
Mr.  Clay,  "  the  model  of  an  inverted  hat ;  Frankfort  is  the  body 
of  the  hat,  and  the  lands  adjacent  are  the  brim.  To  change  the 
figure  vt  is  nature's  g^eat  penitentiary ;  and  if  the  members  of 


24  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

this  house  would  know  the  bodily  condition  of  the  prisoners,  let 
him  look  at  those  poor  creatures  in  the  gallery." 

As  he  said  this,  he  pointed  with  his  finger  to  half  a  dozen 
figures,  that  chanced,  at  that  moment,  to  be  moving  about  in  the 
gallery,  more  like  animated  skeletons  than  respectable  compounds 
of  flesh  and  blood.  The  objects  thus  designated,  seeing  the 
attention  of  the  whole  assembly  suddenly  directed  toward  them, 
dodged,  with  ludicrous  haste,  behind  the  railing,  and  the  assembly 
was  thrown  into  a  convulsion  of  merriment.  This  argumentum 
ad  hominem  proved  irresistible.  The  members  of  the  house 
agreed  that  it  was  expedient  to  remove  the  seat  of  government, 
but  it  was  subsequently  found  impossible  to  decide  upon  a  new 
location,  and  the  legislature  continues  to  hold  its  sessions  at 
Frankfort. 

It  was  an  early  resolution  of  Mr.  Clay,  that  no  litigants,  rich 
or  poor,  should  have  occasion  to  say,  that  for  want  of  counsel 
they  could  riot  obtain  justice  at  every  bar  where  he  could  appear 
for  them.  Col.  Joseph  Hamilton  Daviess,  at  that  time  United 
States  district  attorney,  and  a  man  of  influence  and  distinction, 
had  committed  an  assault  and  battery  at  Frankfort,  on  Mr.  Bush, 
a  respectable  citizen,  and  a  tavern-keeper  at  that  place.  The 
bar  of  Frankfort  declined  instituting  an  action  for  the  latter  against 
Col.  D.  Bush  finally  appealed  to  Henry  Clay,  who  promptly 
undertook  the  case,  and  brought  the  suit  in  Lexington.  In  the 
argument  of  a  preliminary  question,  Mr.  Clay  felt  it  his  duty  to 
animadvert  with  some  severity  upon  the  conduct  of  Col.  Daviess  , 
whereupon  the  latter,  after  the  adjournment  of  the  court,  ad 
dressed  a  note  to  him,  remonstrating  against  his  course,  and  ex 
pressing  a  wish  that  it  should  not  be  persevered  in.  Mr.  Clay 
immediately  replied  that  he  had  undertaken  the  cause  of  Mr. 
Bush  from  a  sense  of  duty  ;  that  he  should  submit  to  no  dictation 
as  to  his  management  of  it,  which  should  be  according  to  his  own 
judgment  exclusively  ;  but  that  he  should  hold  himself  responsi 
ble  for  whatever  he  did  or  said,  in  or  out  of  court.  A  challenge 
ensued ;  Mr.  Clay  accepted  it,  and  proceeded  to  Frankfort  for  the 
hostile  meeting.  There,  by  the  interposition  of  mutual  friends, 
the  affair  was  accommodated  in  a  manner  honorable  to  both 
parties. 


HIS  DEFENCE  OF  AARON  BURR.  25 

In  the  autumn  of  1806,  the  celebrated  Aaron  Burr  was  arrested 
in  Kentucky,  on  a  charge  of  being  engaged  in  an  illegal  warlike 
enterprise.  The  sagacity  and  penetration  of  that  extraordinary 
man  were  never  more  clearly  evinced  than  in  his  application  to 
Mr.  Clay  to  defend  him.  Mr.  Clay  believed,  and  it  was  generally 
believed  in  Kentucky,  that  the  prosecution  was  groundless,  and 
was  instituted  by  Col.  Daviess,  whom  we  have  already  men 
tioned,  who  was  a  great  admirer  of  Col.  Hamilton,  and  who  dis 
liked  Burr,  because  he  had  killed  Hamilton  in  a  duel,  and  was, 
moreover,  his  opponent  in  politics.  Mr.  Clay  felt  a  lively  sym 
pathy  for  Col.  Burr,  on  account  of  his  being  arrested  in  a  state 
distant  from  his  own,  on  account  of  his  misfortunes,  and  the  dis 
tinguished  stations  he  had  filled.  Still  he  declined  appearing  for 
him,  until  Burr  gave  him  written  assurances  that  he  was  engaged 
in  no  enterprise  forbidden  by  law,  and  none  that  was  not  known 
and  approved  by  the  cabinet  at  Washington.  On  receiving  these 
assurances,  Mr.  Clay  appeared  for  him ;  and,  thinking  that  Burr 
ought  not  to  be  dealt  with  as  an  ordinary  culprit,  he  declined  re 
ceiving  from  him  any  fee,  although  a  liberal  one  was  tendered. 

Burr  was  acquitted.  Mr.  Clay  shortly  after  proceeded  to 
Washington,  and  received  from  Mr.  Jefferson  an  account  of  the 
letter  in  cipher,  which  had  been  written  by  Burr  to  General 
Wilkinson,  together  with  other  information  of  the  criminal  de 
signs  of  Burr.  Mr.  Clay  handed  the  written  assurances  above 
mentioned,  to  Mr.  Jefferson  at  the  request  of  the  latter. 

On  his  return  from  Ghent,  Mr.  Clay  made  a  brief  sojourn  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  and  visited,  among  other  places  of  interest, 
the  federal  court,  then  in  session,  escorted  by  his  friend,  the  late 
Mr.  Smith,  then  marshal,  formerly  a  senator  from  New  York. 
On  entering  the  court-room,  in  the  city-hall,  the  eyes  of  the  bench, 
bar,  officers,  and  attendants  upon  the  court,  were  turned  upon 
Mr.  C.,  who  was  invited  to  take  a  seat  upon  the  bench,  which 
ne  politely  declined,  and  took  a  position  in  the  bar.  Shortly 
after,  a  small  gentleman,  apparently  advanced  in  years,  and  with 
bushy,  gray  hair,  whom  Mr.  Clay  for  an  instant  did  not  recognise, 
approached  him.  He  quickly  perceived  it  was  Col.  Burr,  who 
tendered  his  hand  to  salute  Mr.  Clay.  The  latter  declined 
receiving  it.  The  colonel,  nevertheless,  was  no  epulsed,  but 
B 


26  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAF. 

engaged  in  conversation  with  Mr.  Clay,  remarking,  that  he  had 
understood,  that  besides  the  treaty  of  peace,  the  American  com 
missioners  had  negotiated  a  good  commercial  convention  with 
Great  Britain.  Mr.  Clay  replied  coldly,  that  such  a  conven 
tion  was  concluded,  and  that  its  terms  would  be  known  as 
Boon  as  it  was  promulgated  by  public  authority.  Col.  B.  ex 
pressed  a  wish  to  have  an  hour's  interview  with  him,  and  Mr.  C. 
told  him  where  he  stopped — but  the  colonel  never  called.  Thus 
terminated  all  the  intercourse  which  ever  took  place  between 
Henry  Clay  and  Aaron  Burr.  And  yet,  even  out  of  materials 
like  these,  Detraction  has  tried  to  manufacture  weapons  for  its 
assaults ! 


II. 

HIS    COURSE    IN    CONGRESS 1806    TO    1812. 

ON  the  twenty-ninth  of  December,  1806,  Mr.  Clay  produced 
his  credentials,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  senate  of  the  United 
States.  He  had  been  elected  by  the  legislature  of  the  state  of 
Kentucky,  to  fill  a  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  the 
Hon.  John  Adair ;  and,  from  the  journals  of  Congress,  he  seems 
to  have  entered  at  once  actively  upon  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
of  his  new  and  exalted  position.  His  first  speech  was  in  favor 
of  the  erection  of  a  bridge  over  the  Potomac  river);  and  at  this 
period,  we  perceive  the  dawning  of  those  views  of  "  internal 
improvement,"  which  he  afterward  carried  out  so  ably,  and  his 
advocacy  of  which  should  alone  be  sufficient  to  entitle  him  to 
the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  country.  He  amused  the  senate,  on 
this  occasion,  by  quoting  a  passage  from  Peter  Pindar,  as  appli 
cable  to  a  senator  by  whom  he  had  been  assailed,  and  who  was 
remarkable  for  the  expression  of  superior  sagacity  which  his 
countenance  was  wont  to  assume  when  he  rebuked  the  younger 
members  of  the  body.  The  picture  was  apt  and  graphic  :  — 

"  Thus  have  I  seen  a  magpie  in  the  street, 
A  chattering  bird,  we  often  meet ; 
A  bird  for  curiosity  well  known, 

With  head  awry,  and  cunning  eye, 
P«ep  knowingly  into  a  marrow-bone." 


ELECTED    TO    THE    UNITED    STATES    SENATE.  27 

This  speech  was  soon  followed  by  his  presentation  of  a  reso 
lution,  advocating  the  expediency  of  appropriating  a  quantity  of 
land  toward  the  opening  of  the  canal  proposed  to  be  cut  around 
the  rapids  of  the  Ohio,  on  the  Kentucky  shore. 

The  subject  of  appropriations  for  internal  improvements  was 
at  that  time  a  novelty.  So  far  as  it  related  to  the  establishment 
of  post-roads,  it  had,  it  is  true,  been  discussed  in  February,  1795  ; 
but  no  formal  opinion  of  Congress  was  expressed,  so  as  to  be  a 
precedent  for  future  action. 

A  committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Clay,  Giles,  and  Baldwin, 
was  now  appointed  to  consider  the  new  resolution,  and  on  the 
twenty-fourth  of  February,  1 807,  Mr.  Clay  made  an  able  report 
to  the  senate,  in  which  we  find  the  following  passage  :  "  How 
far  it  is  the  policy  of  th,e  government  to  aid  in  works  of  this  kind 
when  it  has  no  distinct  interest ;  whether,  indeed,  in  such  a  case, 
it  has  the  constitutional  power  of  patronage  and  encouragement, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  be  decided  in  the  present  instance."  A  few 
days  afterward,  he  reported  a  bill  providing  for  the  appointment 
of  commissioners  to  ascertain  the  practicability  of  removing  the 
obstructions  in  the  navigation  of  the  Ohio  at  the  rapids.  This 
bill  passed  the  senate  by  a  vote  of  eighteen  to  eight.) 

The  following  resolution,  presented  the  day  of  the  passage  of 
the  bill,  shows  that  Mr.  Clay,  thus  early  in  his  career,  was  deeply 
impressed  with  the  importance  of  a  system  of  internal  improve 
ment.  He  may  truly  be  called  the  father  of  that  system  which 
has  so  incalculably  advanced  the  general  prosperity  of  the  Re 
public  :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  be  directed  to  prepare  and 
report  to  the  senate  at  their  next  session,  a  plan  for  the  application  of  such 
means  as  are  within  the  power  of  Congress,  to  the  purposes  of  opening  roads 
and  making  canals ;  together  with  a  statement  of  undertakings  of  that  nature, 
which,  as  objects  of  public  improvement,  may  require  and  deserve  the  aid 
of  government;  and,  also,  a  statement  of  works,  of  the  nature  mentioned, 
which  have  been  commenced,  the  progress  which  has  been  made  in  them, 
and  the  means  and  prospect  of  their  being  completed  ;  and  all  such  informa 
tion  as,  in  the  opinion  of  the  secretary,  shall  be  material  in  relation  to  the 
objects  of  this  resolution." 

The  resolution  was  passed  with  but  three  dissenting  voices. 
During   this    session,  an  attempt  was  made  to  suspend  the 
habeas  corpus  act,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  president  to 


28  THE    LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

arrest,  without  going  through  the  forms  and  delays  of  the  law 
Col.  Burr,  of  whose  evil  intentions  there  was  now  sufficient 
proof.  Mr.  Clay  did  not  speak  on  the  motion,  but  his  vote  was 
recorded  against  it,  not  through  any  tenderness  toward  Birr,  but 
because  of  the  danger  of  instituting  such  a  precedent  against  the 
liberty  of  the  citizen.  The  motion  was,  however,  carried  o.  the 
senate,  but  defeated  in  the  house  of  representatives. 

Mr.  Clay's  election  to  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  had  been 
but  for  the  fraction  of  a  term,  amounting  to  a  single  session,  f  In 
the  summer  of  1807,  he  was  again  chosen  by  the  citizens  of 
Fayette  to  represent  them  in  the  Kentucky  legislature,  and  at  the 
next  session  he  was  elected  speaker  of  the  assembly.  In  this 
position,  he  did  not  content  himself  with  faithfully  discharging 
the  ordinary  duties  of  a  speaker.  He  entered  the  arena  of  de 
bate,  and  took  an  active  part  in  most  of  the  important  discussions 
before  the  house.  A  motion  having  been  made  to  prohibit  the 
reading,  in  the  courts  of  Kentucky,  of  any  British  decision,  or 
elementary  work  on  law,  he  opposed  it  with  a  vigor  and  eloquence 
that  could  not  fail  of  effect.  More  than  four  fifths  of  the  members 
of  the  house  had  evinced  a  determination  to  vote  for  the  motion.; 
It  was  argued  that  the  Americans,  as  an  independent  people, 
ought  not  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  governed,  in  the  administra 
tion  of  justice,  by  the  legal  decisions  of  a  foreign  power.  ;Mr. 
Clay  had  to  contend  against  a  most  formidable  array  of  popular 
prejudice.  To  obviate  one  of  the  most  potent  arguments  of  the 
friends  of  the  motion,  he  ingeniously  moved  to  amend  it  by  limit 
ing  the  exclusion  of  British  decisions  from  Kentucky,  to  those 
only  which  have  taken  place  since  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  the  date 
of  American  independence,  and  suffering  all  which  preceded  that 
period  to  remain  in  force.  He  maintained  that  before  the  dec 
laration  of  our  independence,  the  British  and  Americans  were 
the  same  nation,  and  the  laws  of  the  one  people  were  those  of 
the  other.  He  then  entered  upon  one  of  the  most  eloquent 
harangues  that  ever  fell  from  his  lips.'i  He  exposed  the  barbarity 
of  a  measure  which  would  annihilate^,  for  all  practical  uses  in  the 
state,  the  great  body  of  the  common  law  ;  which  would  "  wan 
tonly  make  wreck  of  a  system  fraught  with  the  intellectual 


SPEAKER    OF    THE    LEGISLATURE.  29 

wealth  of  centuries,  and  whelm  its  last  fragment  beneath  the 
wave." 

Those  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  hear  Mr.  Clay  on  this  occa 
sion,  describe  his  speech  as  one  of  transcendent  power,  beauty, 
and  pathos.  A  gentleman,  who  was  a  partaker  in  the  effect  pro 
duced  by  his  eloquence,  says  :  "  Every  muscle  of  the  orator's 
face  was  in  motion  ;  his  whole  body  seemed  agitated,  as  if  every 
part  were  instinct  with  a  separate  life  ;  and  his  small,  white  hand, 
with  its  blue  veins  apparently  distended,  almost  to  bursting,  moved 
gracefully,  but  with  all  the  energy  of  rapid  and  vehement  gesture. 
The  appearance  of  the  speaker  seemed  that  of  a  pure  intellect, 
wrought  up  to  its  mightiest  energies,  and  brightly  glowing  through 
the  thh;.  and  transparent  veil  of  flesh  that  enrobed  it." 

It  is  almost  needless  to  add  that  Mr.  Clay  prevailed  on  this 
occasion  in  turning  the  tide  in  his  favor,  and  the  original  motion 
was  rejected.  \ 

A  report  drawn  up  by  him  in  1 809  upon  a  question  of  disputed 
election  is  worthy  of  notice  in  this  place.  The  citizens  of  Har- 
din  county,  who  were  entitled  to  two  representatives  in  the  gen 
eral  assembly,  had  given  436  votes  for  Charles  Helm,  350  for 
Samuel  Haycraft,  and  271  for  John  Thomas.  The  fact  being 
ascertained  that  Mr.  Haycraft  held  an  office  of  profit  under  the 
commonwealth,  at  the  time  of  the  election,  a  constitutional  dis 
qualification  attached  and  excluded  him.  He  was  ineligible,  and 
therefore  could  not  be  entitled  to  his  seat.  It  remained  to  in 
quire  into  the  pretensions  of  Mr.  Thomas.  His  claim  could 
only  be  supported  by  a  total  rejection  of  the  votes  given  by  Mr. 
Haycraft,  as  void  to  all  intents  whatever.  Mr.  Clay  contended 
that  those  votes,  though  void  and  ineffectual  in  creating  any  right 
in  Mr.  Haycraft  to  a  seat  in  the  house,  could  not  affect,  in  any 
manner,  the  situation  of  his  competitor.  Any  other  exposition 
would  he  subversive  of  the  great  principle  of  free  government, 
that  the  majority  shall  prevail.  It  would  operate  as  a  fraud  upon 
the  people  ;  for  it  could  not  be  doubted  that  the  votes  given  to 
Mr.  Haycraft  were  bestowed  under  a  full  persuasion  that  he  had 
a  right  to  receive  them.  It  would,  in  fact,  be  a  declaration  that 
disqualification  produced  qualification  —  that  the  incapacity  of 
one  man  capacitated  another  to  hold  a  seat  in  that  house.  The 


30  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

committee,  therefore,  unanimously  decided  that  neither  of  the 
gentlemen  was  entitled  to  a  seat, 

Such  were  the  principles  of  Mr.  Clay's  report.  It  was  unani 
mously  adopted  by  the  house  ;  and  its  doctrines  have  ever  since 
governed  the  Kentucky  elections. 

In  December,  1808,  Mr.  Clay  introduced  before  the  legislature 
of  Kentucky  a  series  of  resolutions  approving  the  embargo,  de 
nouncing  the  British  orders  in  council,  pledging  the  cooperation 
of  Kentucky  to  any  measures  of  opposition  to  British  exactions, 
upon  which  the  general  government  might  determine,  and  de 
claring  that  "  THOMAS  JEFFERSON  is  entitled  to  the  thanks  of  his 
country  for  the  ability,  uprightness,  and  intelligence  which  he  has 
displayed  in  the  management  both  of  our  foreign  relations  and  do 
mestic  concerns? 

Mr.  Humphrey  Marshall  opposed  these  resolutions  with  ex 
traordinary  vehemence,   and  introduced  amendatory  resolution,, 
of  a  directly  opposite  tendency ;  but  Mr.  Marshall  was  the  only 
one  who  voted  in  favor  of  the  latter.     Mr.  Clay's  original  resolu 
tions  were  adopted  by  a  vote  of  sixty-four  to  one. 

Soon  after  this  event,  Mr.  Clay  introduced  a  resolution  recom 
mending  that  every  member,  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the 
industry  of  the  country,  should  clothe  himself  in  garments  of  do 
mestic  manufacture.  This  resolution  was  at  once  most  emphat 
ically  denounced  by  Mr.  Humphrey  Marshall,  who  stigmatized 
it  as  the  project  of  a  demagogue,  and  applied  a  profusion  of  harsh 
and  ungenerous  epithets  to  the  mover.  Mr.  Clay  retorted,  arid 
the  quarrel  went  on  until  it  terminated  in  a  hostile  encounter. 
The  parties  met,  and  by  the  first  shot  Mr.  Marshall  was  slightly 
wounded.  They  stood  up  a  second  time,  and  Mr.  Clay  received 
a  hardly  perceptible  flesh-wound  in  the  leg.  The  seconds  now 
interfered,  and  prevented  a  continuance  of  the  combat. 

Mr.  Clay  was  once  again  called  upon  in  the  course  of  his  po 
litical  career,  by  the  barbarous  exactions  of  society,  to  consent 
to  a  hostile  encounter ;  but  we  are  confident  that  no  man  at  heart 
abominated  the  custom  more  sincerely  than  he.  The  following 
passage  in  relation  to  this  subject  occurs  in  an  address,  which, 
in  his  maturer  years,  he  made  to  his  constituents  :  "  I  owe  it  to 
the  community  to  say,  that  whatever  heretofore  I  may  have  done, 


HIS    SENTIMENTS    ON    DUELLING.  31 

or  by  inevitable  circumstances  might  be  forced  to  do,  no  m 
holds  it  in  deeper  abhorrence  than  I  do  that  pernicious  practice. 
Condemned  as  it  must  be  by  the  judgment  and  philosophy,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  religion,  of  every  thinking  man,  it  is  an  affair 
of  feeling  about  which  we  can  not,  although  we  should,  reason. 
Its  true  corrective  will  be  found  when  all  shall  unite,  as  all  ought 
to  unite,  in  its  unqualified  proscription." 

When  the  bill  to  suppress  duelling  in  the  district  of  Columbia 
came  before  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  in  the  spring  of 
1838,  Mr.  Clay  said,  no  man  would  be  happier  than  he  to  see 
the  whole  barbarous  system  for  ever  eradicated.  It  was  well 
known,  that  in  certain  quarters  of  the  country,  public  opinion 
was  averse  from  duelling,  and  no  man  could  fly  in  the  face  of  that 
public  opinion,  without  having  his  reputation  sacrificed  ;  but  there 
were  other  portions  again  which  exacted  obedience  to  the  fatal 
custom.  The  man  with  a  high  sense  of  honor,  and  nice  sensi 
bility,  when  the  question  is  whether  he  shall  fight  or  have  the 
finger  of  scorn  pointed  at  him,  is  unable  to  resist,  and  few,  very 
few,  are  found  willing  to  adopt  such  an  alternative.  When  pub 
lic  opinion  shall  be  renovated,  and  chastened  by  reason,  religion, 
and  humanity,  the  practice  of  duelling  will  at  once  be  discounte 
nanced.  It  is  the  office  of  legislation  to  do  all  it  can  to  bring 
about  that  healthful  state  of  the  public  mind,  and  although  it  may 
not  altogether  effect  so  desirable  a  result,  yet  he  had  no  doubt  it 
would  do  much  toward  it,  and  with  these  views  he  would  give 
his  vote  for  the  bill. 

In  the  winter  session  of  Congress,  in  1809-'!  0,  Mr.  Clay  took 
his  seat  a  second  time  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States. *)  He 
had  been  elected  by  the  legislature  by  a  handsome  majority  to 
supply  a  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Buckner 
Thurston,  whose  term  wanted  two  years  of  its  completion. 
From  this  period  the  public  history  of  Mr.  Clay  may  be  found 
diffused  through  the  annals  of  the  Union.  The  archives  of  the 
republic  are  the  sources  from  which  the  materials  for  his  biog 
raphy  may  be  henceforth  derived.  When  time  shall  have  re 
moved  the  inducements  for  interested  praise  or  censure,  posterity 
will  point  to  the  records  of  his  civic  achievements,  glorious  though, 
bloodless,  no  less  as  furnishing  a  well-established  title  to  their 


32  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

admiration  and  gratitude,  than  as  a  perpetual  monument  of  his 
fame. 

fyhe  predilections  which  Mr.  Clay  had  early  manifested  in 
behalf  of  American  manufactures  and  American  principles,  were 
unequivocally  avowed  in  his  first  speech  before  the  senate /on 
being  elected  a  second  time  to  that  body  as  far  back  as  April, 
1810.  A  bill  was  under  discussion  appropriating  a  sum  of  mon 
ey  for  procuring  munitions  of  war,  and  for  other  purposes  ;  and 
an  amendment  had  been  proposed,  instructing  the  secretary  of 
the  navy,  to  provide  supplies  of  cordage,  sail-cloth,  hemp,  &c., 
and  to  give  a  preference  to  those  of  American  growth  and  manu 
facture.  Mr.  Lloyd  of  Massachusetts  moved  to  strike  out  this 
part  of  the  amendment ;  and  a  discussion  arose  concerning  the 
general  policy  of  promoting  domestic  manufactures,  in  which 
Mr.  Clay  boldly  declared  himself  its  advocate.) 

The  fallacious  course  of  reasoning  urged  by  many  against  do 
mestic  manufactures,  namely,  the  distress  and  servitude  produced 
by  those  of  England,  he  said  would  equally  indicate  the  propriety 
of  abandoning  agriculture  itself.  Were  we  to  cast  our  eyes  upon 
the  miserable  peasantry  of  Poland,  and  revert  to  the  days  of  feu 
dal  vassalage,  we  might  thence  draw  numerous  arguments  against 
the  pursuits  of  the  husbandman.  In  short,  take  the  black  side 
of  the  picture,  and  every  human  occupation  wall  be  found  preg 
nant  with  fatal  objections. 

The  sentiments  avowed  thus  early  in  our  legislative  history 
by  Mr.  Clay  are  now  current  throughout  our  vast  community ; 
and  the  **  American  System,"  as  it  has  been  called,  is  generally 
admitted  to  be  not  only  a  patriotic,  but  a  politic  system.  But  let 
'it  not  be  forgotten,  that  it  is  to  the  persevering  and  unremitted 
exertions  of  Henry  Clay,  that  we  are  indebted  for  the  planting 
and  the  cherishing  of  that  goodly  tree,  under  the  far-spreading 
branches  of  which  so  many  find  protection  and  plenty  at  the  pres 
ent  day. 

The  amendments  advocated  by  Mr.  Clay  on  this  occasion  were 
adopted,  and  the  bill  was  passed.  The  first  step  toward  the 
establishment  of  his  magnificent  "  system"  was  taken. 

Another  speech  in  which  he  distinguished  himself  during  the 
session,  is  that  upon  the  question  of  the  right  of  the  United 


SPEECH    ON    THE    LINE    OF    THE    PERDIDO.  S3 

States  to  the  territory  lying  between  the  rivers  Mississippi  and 
Perdido,  comprising  the  greater  part  of  Western  Florida.  This 
important  region,  out  of  which  the  states  of  Alabama  and  Missis 
sippi  have  since  been  formed,  was  claimed  oy  Spain  as  a  part 
of  her  Florida  domain.  The  president,  Mr.  Madison,  had  issued 
a  proclamation  declaring  this  region  annexed  to  the  Orleans  ter 
ritory,  and  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  The  fed 
eralists  maintained  that  we  had  no  claim  to  the  territory — that 
it  belonged  to  Spain  —  and  that  Great  Britain,  as  her  ally,  would 
not  consent  to  see  her  robbed. 

Mr.  Clay  stepped  forth  as  the  champion  of  the  democracy  and 
the  president,  and  eloquently  vindicated  the  title  of  the  United 
States  to  the  land.j  His  arguments  evince  much  research, ingenuity 
and  logical  skill ;  and  on  this,  as  on  all  occasions,  he  manifested 
that  irrepressible  sympathy  with  the  people  —  the  mass — his 
eloquent  expressions  of  which  had  gained  him  in  Kentucky  the 
appellation  of  the  GREAT  COMMONER.  Mr.  Horsey,  one  of  the 
senators  from  Delaware,  had  bemoaned  the  fate  of  the  Spanish 
king.  Mr.  Clay  said  in  reply  :  u  I  shall  leave  the  honorable  gen 
tleman  from  Delaware  to  mourn  over  the  fortunes  of  the  fallen 
Charles.  I  have  no  commiseration  for  princes.  MY  SYMPATHIES 
ARE  RESERVED  FOR  THE  GREAT  MASS  of  mankind ;  and  I  own 
that  the  people  of  Spain  have  them  most  sincerely." 

With  regard  to  the  deprecated  wrath  of  Great  Britain,  Mr 
Clay  said,  with  a  burst  of  indignant  eloquence,  which  is  but  in 
adequately  conveyed  in  the  reported  speech  : — 

"Sir,  is  the  time  never  to  arrive,  when  we  may  manage  our  own  affairs, 
without  the  fear  of  insulting  his  Britannic  majesty?  Is  the  rod  of  British 
power  to  be  for  ever  suspended  over  our  heads  ?  Does  Congress  put  on  an 
Embargo  to  shelter  our  rightful  commerce  against  the  piratical  depredations 
committed  upon  it  on  the  ocean  ?  We  are  immediately  warned  of  the  in 
dignation  of  England.  Is  a  law  of  Non-Intercourse  proposed?  The  whole 
navy  of  the  haughty  mistress  of  the  seas  is  made  to  thunder  in  our  ears. 
Does  the  president  refuse  to  continue  his  correspondence  with  a  minister, 
who  violates  the  decorum  belonging  to  his  diplomatic  character,  by  giving, 
and  deliberately  repeating  an  affront  to  the  whole  nation?  We  are  instantly 
menaced  with  the  chastisement  which  English  pride  will  not  fail  to  inflict. 
Whether  we  assert  our  rights  by  sea,  or  attempt  their  maintenance  by  land 
— whithersoever  we  turn  ourselves,  this  phantom  incessantly  pursues  us  1" 

The  strong  American  feeling,  the  genuine  democratic  dignity 
which  pervade  this  speech  are  characteristic  of  the  man  and  of 
the  principles,  which,  throughout  a  long  and  trying  public  career 


34  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

ne  has  steadfastly  maintained.  And  yet  we  find  new-fledged 
politicians  and  dainty  demagogues  of  modern  fashionable  manu 
facture  charging  this  early  and  consistent  leader  of  the  democracy 
— this  friend  and  supporter  of  Jefferson  and  of  Madison — this 
main  pillar  of  the  party,  who  originated  and  conducted  to  a  glorious 
termination  the  last  war — charging  him  with  federalism  and 
aristocracy!  Every  act  of  his  life  —  every  recorded  word  that 
ever  fell  from  his  lips  gives  the  lie  to  the  imputation. 

Mr.  Clay's  labors  during  the  session  appear  to  have  been  ar 
duous  and  diversified  —  showing  on  his  part  unusual  versatility, 
industry,  and  powers  of  application.  He  was  placed  on  several 
important  committees,  and  seems  to  have  taken  part  in  all  dis 
cussions  of  moment.  On  the  26th  of  March,  1810,  from  the 
committee  to  whom  was  recommitted  a  bill  granting  a  right  of 
preemption  to  purchasers  of  public  lands  in  certain  cases,  he  re 
ported  it  with  amendments,  which  were  read  ;  and,  after  under 
going  some  alterations,  it  was  again  recommitted,  reported,  and 
finally  passed  by  the  senate.  Mr.  Clay  was  the  early  friend  of 
the  poor  settler  on  the  public  lands,  and  he  has  always  advocated 
a  policy  which,  while  it  is  extremely  liberal  toward  that  class,  is 
consistent  with  perfect  justice  to  the  people  at  large,  who  are  the 
legitimate  owners  of  the  public  domain. 

On  the  29th  of  March,  Mr.  Clay  brought  in  a  bill  supplement 
ary  to  an  act  entitled  "An  Act  to  Regulate  Trade  and  Intercourse 
with  the  Indian  Tribes,  and  to  preserve  Peace  on  the  Frontier." 
The  bill  was  referred  to  a  committee,  of  which  he  was  appointed 
chairman  ;  and  to  his  intelligent  labors  in  their  behalf,  the  people 
of  the  west  were  indebted  for  measures  of  protection  of  the  most 
efficient  character. 

The  20th  of  April  succeeding,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Clay,  the  bill 
to  enable  the  people  of  the  Orleans  territory,  now  Louisiana,  to 
form  a  constitution  and  government  was  amended  by  a  provision 
requiring  that  the  laws,  records,  and  legislative  proceedings  of 
the  state  should  be  in  the  English  language.  On  the  27th 
of  the  same  month,  he  had  leave  of  absence  for  the  rest  of  the 
session,  after  accomplishing  an  amount  of  public  business  that 
few  men  could  have  despatched  with  so  much  promptitude,  abil« 
1y,  and  advantage  to  the  country. 


RECHARTER    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES    BANK.  35 

third  session  of  the  eleventh  Congress  commenced  on  the 
3d  of  December,  1810.  Mr.  Clay  was  once  more  in  his  seat 
in  the  senate. 

The  subject  of  renewing  the  charter  of  the  United  States  bank, 
was  now  the  great  topic  before  Congress.  Mr.  Clay  had  been 
instructed  by  the  legislature  of  Kentucky  to  oppose  a  recharter  • 
ancf  his  own  convictions  at  the  time  accorded  with  theirs.  He 
addressed  the  senate  at  some  length  in  opposition  to  the  proposed 
measure^)  He  lived  to  rectify  his  opinions  on  this  important 
question ;  and  his  reasons  for  the  change  must  be  satisfactory  to 
every  candid  mind.  They  are  given  in  an  address  to  his  con 
stituents  in  Lexington,  dated  the  3d  of  June,  1816. 

In  a  speech  to  the  same  constituents,  delivered  the  9th  of  June, 
1842,  he  alludes  to  the  subject  in  these  terms  :  — 


"  I  never  but  once  changed  my  opinion  on  any  great  measure  of  national 
policy,  or  any  great  principle  of  construction  of  the  national  constitution. 
In  early  life,  on  deliberate  consideration,  I  adopted  the  principles  of  inter 
preting  the  federal  constitution,  which  had  been  so  ably  developed  and 
enforced  by  Mr.  Madison  in  his  memorable  report  to  the  Virginia  legis 
lature  ;  and  to  them,  as  I  understood  them,  I  have  constantly  adhered.  Upon 
the  question  coming  up  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  to  recharter  the 
first  Bank  of  the  United  States,  thirty  years  ago,  I  opposed  the  recharter 
upon  convictions  which  I  honestly  entertained.  The  experience  of  the  war 
which  shortly  followed,  the  condition  into  which  the  currency  of  the  country 
was  thrown,  without  a  bank,  and,  I  may  now  add,  later  and  more  disastrous 
experience,  convinced  me  I  was  wrong.  I  publicly  stated  to  my  constituents, 
in  a. speech  at  Lexington  (that  which  I  had  made  in  the  house  of  representa 
tives  not  having  been  reported)  my  reasons  for  the  change ;  and  they  are 
preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  country.  I  appeal  to  that  record ;  and  I 
urn  willing  to  be  judged  now  and  hereafter  by  their  validity. 

"  I  do  not  advert  to  the  fact  of  this  solitary  instance  of  change  of  opinion, 
es  implying  any  personal  merit,  but  because  it  is  a  fact.  I  will,  however,  say 
that  I  think  it  very  perilous  to  the  utility  of  any  public  man,  to  make  fre 
quent  changes  of  opinion,  or  any  change,  but  upon  grounds  so  sufficient  and 
palpable,  that  the  public  can  clearly" see  and  approve  them." 

Many  important  subjects  were  discussed  by  the  senate  during 
the  session  of  1810-'ll  ;  and  Mr.  Clay  was  in  all  of  them  con 
spicuous.  His  zeal  and  efficiency  in  the  public  service  began  to 
attract  the  eyes  of  the  whole  country.  He  was  not  the  repre 
sentative  of  Kentucky  alone.  His  capacious  heart  and  active 
mind,  uncontracted  by  sectional  jealousies  or  local  bigotry,  com 
prehended  the  entire  union  in  their  embrace. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  second  fractional  term  of  service  in 


36  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

the  senate  of  the  United  States,  having  returned  to  Kentucky,  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  federal  house  of  representatives. 
Congress  convened  on  the  day  designated  by  proclamation,  the 
fourth  day  of  November,  1811  ;  and,  on  the  first  ballot  for  speaker, 
128  members  being  present,  he  was  chosen  by  a  majority  of  31, 
over  all  opposition. 

QThe  affairs  of  the  nation  were  never  in  a  more  critical  position 
than  at  this  juncture.  The  honor  of  the  republic  was  at  stake. 
A  long  series  of  outrages  perpetrated  against  our  commerce  by 
England  and  by  France,  had  reached  a  height  at  which  farther 
toleration  would  have  been  pusillanimous.  Under  the  Berlin  and 
Milan  decrees  of  Napoleon,  our  ships  were  seized,  and  our  prop 
erty  confiscated  by  the  French,  in  a  manner  to  provoke  the 
warmest  indignation  of  a  free  people.  Great  Britain  vied  with 
France,  and  finally  far  surpassed  her  in  her  acts  of  violence  and 
rapine  toward  us.  Each  of  the  belligerent  nations  sought  a  pre 
text  in  the  conduct  of  the  other  for  her  own  injustice. 

At  length  France,  in  answer  to  our  remonstrances,  repealed 
her  odious  decrees  so  far  as  we  were  concerned,  and  practically 
abandoned  her  system  of  seizure  and  oppression.  Great  Britain 
did  not  follow  her  example. 

A  year  had  elapsed  since  the  French  decrees  were  rescinded  ; 
but  Great  Britain  persisted  in  her  course,  affecting  to  deny  their 
extinction.  The  ships  of  the  United  States,  laden  with  the  prod 
uce  of  our  soil  and  labor,  navigated  by  our  own  citizens,  and 
peaceably  pursuing  a  lawful  trade,  were  seized  on  our  coasts,  and, 
at  the  very  mouth  of  our  own  harbors,  condemned  and  confiscated. 
But  it  was  the  ruffianly  system  of  impressment — by  which  Amer 
ican  freemen,  pursuing  a  lawful  life  of  hardship  and  daring  on 
the  ocean,  were  liable  to  be  seized,  in  violation  of  the  rights  of 
our  flag,  forced  into  the  naval  service  of  a  foreign  power]  and 
made,  perhaps,  the  instruments  of  similar  oppression  toward  their 
own  countrymen  -fit  was  this  despotic  and  barbarous  system, 
that  principally  roused  the  warlike  spirit  of  Congress  and  the 
nation.  >And  posterity  will  admit,  that  this  cause  of  itself  was 
an  all-sufficient  justification  for  hostile  measures.  The  spirit  of 
that  people  must  have  been  debased,  indeed,  which  could  have 
tamely  submitted  to  such  aggressions. 


BRITISH    AGGRESSION.  37 

The  feelings  of  Mr.  Clay  on  this  subject,  seem  to  l*-?e  been 
of  the  iritensest  description.  Though  coming  from  a  state  dis 
tant  from  the  seaboard,  the  wrongs  and  indignities  practised 
against  our  mariners  by  British  arrogance  and  oppression,  fired 
his  soul  and  stirred  his  whole  nature  to  resistance.  To  him,  the 
idea  of  succumbing  a  moment  to  such  degrading  outrages  was 
intolerable.  The  nation  had  been  injured  and  insulted.  England 
persisted  in  her  injuries  and  insults.  It  was  useless  to  temporize 
longer,  ^fle  was  for  war,  prompt,  open,  and  determined  war.  He 
communicated  to  others  the  electric  feelings  that  animated  his 
own  breast.  He  wreaked  all  his  energies  on  this  great  causey 

In  appointing  the  committee  on  foreign  relations,  to  whom  the 
important  question  was  to  be  referred,  he  was  careful  to  select  a 
majority  of  such  members  as  partook  of  his  own  decided  views. 
Peter  B.  Porter,  of  New  York,  was  the  chairman ;  and,  on  the 
29th  of  November,  he  made  a  report,  in  which  the  committee 
earnestly  recommended,  in  the  words  of  the  president,  "that  the 
United  States  be  immediately  put  into  an  armor  and  attitude  de 
manded  by  the  crisis,  and  corresponding  with  the  national  spirit 
and  expectations."  They  submitted  appropriate  resolutions  for 
the-carrying  out  of  this  great  object. 

\0n  the  3 1st  of  December,  the  house  resolved  itself  into  a  com 
mittee  of  the  whole,  Mr.  Breckenridge  in  the  chair,  on  a  bill  from 
the  senate,  providing  for  the  raising  of  twenty-five  thousand 
troops.  Of  this  measure,  Mr.  Clay  was  the  warmest,  and  at  the 
same  time  most  judicious  advocate.  He  addressed  the  house 
eloquently  in  its  behalf,  and  urged  it  forward,  on  all  occasions, 
with  his  best  energies,/ 

He  contended  that  the  real  cause  of  British  aggression  was 
not  to  distress  France,  as  many  maintained,  but  to  destroy  a  rival. 
"  She  saw,"  continued  he,  "  in  your  numberless  ships,  which 
whitened  every  sea — in  your  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  gal 
lant  tars — the  seeds  of  a  naval  force,  which,  in  thirty  years, 
would  rival  her  on  her  own  element.  She,  therefore,  commenced 
the  odious  system  of  impressment,  of  which  no  language  can  paint 
my  execration  !  She  DARED  to  attempt  the  subversion  of  the  per 
sonal  freedom  of  your  mariners-  /" 

In  concluding,  Mr.  Clay  said  he  trusted  that  he  had  fully  estab- 


38  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAT. 

lished  these  three  positions  :  That  the  quantum  of  the  force  pro 
posed  by  the  bill  was  not  too  great ;  that  its  nature  was  such  as 
the  contemplated  war  called  for ;  and  that  the  object  of  the  war 
was  justified  by  every  consideration  of  justice,  of  interest,  of 
honor,  and  love  of  country.  Unless  that  object  were  at  once  at 
tained  by  peaceful  means,  he  hoped  that  war  would  be  waged 
before  the  close  of  the  session. 

^The  bill  passed  the  house  on  the  4th  of  January  succeeding  ; 
and,  on  the  22 d  of  the  same  month,  the  report  of  the  committee, 
to  whom  that  part  of  the  president's  message,  relating  to  a  naval 
establishment,  was  referred,  being  under  discussion,  Mr.  Clay 
spoke  in  favor  of  an  increase  of  the  navy,  advocating  the  building 
of  ten  frigates.) 

In  his  remarks,  on  this  occasion,  he  contended  that  a  descrip 
tion  of  naval  force  entirely  within  our  means,  was  that  which 
would  be  sufficient  to  prevent  any  single  vessel,  of  whatever 
metal,  from  endangering  our  whole  coasting  trade — blocking  up 
our  harbors,  and  laying  under  contributions  our  cities  —  a  force 
competent  to  punish  the  insolence  of  the  commander  of  any  single 
ship,  and  to  preserve  in  our  own  jurisdiction,  the  inviolability  of 
our  peace  and  our  laws. 

"Is  there,"  ho  asked,  "a  reflecting  man  in  the  nation,  who  would  not 
charge  Congress  with  a  culpable  neglect  of  its  duty,  if,  for  the  want  of  such 
a  force,  a  single  ship  were  to  bombard  one  of  our  cities  ?  Would  not  every 
honorable  member  of  the  committee  inflict  on  himself  the  bitterest  re 
proaches,  if,  by  failing  to  make  an  inconsiderable  addition  to  our  little 
gallant  navy,  a  single  British  vessel  should  place  New  York  under  contri 
bution." 

On  the  29th  of  January,  1812,  the  bill  to  increase  the  navy 
passed  the  house  by  a  handsome  majority.  To  Mr.  Clay's  elo 
quent  advocacy  of  the  measure,  the  country  is  largely  indebted 
for  the  glorious  naval  successes  which  afterward  shed  a  new  and 
undying  lustre  upon  our  history.  But  for  the  gallant  and  effective 
navy,  which  sprang  up  under  such  auspices,  the  main  arm  of  cur 
defence  would  have  been  crippled.  While  we  contemplate  with 
pride  .our  achievements  upon  the  sea — the  memorable  deed.3  of 
our  Lawrences,  Decaturs,  Hulls,  Bainbridges,  and  Perrys-— let 
us  not  forget  the  statesman,  but  for  whose  provident  sagacity  and 
intrepid  spirit,  the  opportunity  of  performing  those  exploits  might 
never  have  been  afforded. 


ELECTED    SPEAKER    OF    THE    HOUSE.  39 

III. 

THE    WAR    OF     1812 — MR.    CLAY'S    EFFORTS. 

THE  cause  of  Mr.  Clay's  transference  from  the  senate  to  the 
Qouse  of  representatives,  was  his  own  preference,  at  the  time,  of 
a  seat  in  the  popular  branch.  His  immediate  appointment  as 
speaker  was,  under  the  circumstances,  a  rare  honor,  and  one 
never,  before  or  since,  conferred  on  a  new  member.  Among  the 
qualifications  which  led  to  his  selection  for  that  high  station,  was 
his  known  firmness,  which  would  check  any  attempt  to  domineer 
over  the  house  ;  and  many  members  had  a  special  view  to  a 
proper  restraint  upon  Mr.  John  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  who, 
through  the  fears  of  Mr.  Varnum,  and  the  partiality  entertained 
for  him  by  Mr.  Macon,  the  two  preceding  speakers,  had  exercised 
a  control  which,  it  was  believed,  was  injurious  to  the  deliberations 
of  the  body. 

(Oil  the  first  of  April,  1812,  the  following  confidential  commu 
nication  from  the  president  to  Congress  was  received:  — 

'•Considering  it  as  expedient,  under  existing  circumstances  and  prospects, 
that  a  general  embargo  be  laid  on  all  vessels  now  in  port,  or  hereafter  arri 
ving,  for  the  period  of  sixty  days,  I  recommend  the  immediate  passage  of  a 
law  to  that  effect.  "JAMES  MADISON." 

This  proposition  was  immediately  discussed  in  the  house  in 
secret  session.  \  Mr.  Clay  took  an  active  part  in  the  debate.  He 
gave  to  the  measure  recommended  by  the  president,  his  ardent 
and  unqualified  support^]  "  I  APPROVE  OF  IT,"  said  he,  "  BECAUSE 

IT  IS  TO   BE  VIEWED  AS  A  DIRECT  PRECURSOR   TO  WAR." 

Among  the  vehement  opponents  of  the  measure  were  John 
Randolph,  of  Virginia,  and  Josiah  Quincy,  of  Massachusetts. 
Mr.  Randolph  said  that  the  honorable  speaker  was  mistaken  when 
he  said  the  message  was  for  war.  Mr.  R.  had  "  too  much  reli 
ance  on  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the  president,  to  believe  that 
he  would  be  guilty  of  such  gross  and  unparalleled  treason."  He 
maintained  that  the  proposed  embargo  was  not  to  be  regarded  as 
an  initial  step  to  war — but  as  a  subterfuge  —  a  retreat  from  battle. 
"  What  new  cause  of  war,"  he  asked,  "  or  of  an  embargo,  has 


40  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

arisen  within  the  last  twelve  months  ?  The  affair  of  the  Chesa  • 
peake  is  settled :  no  new  principles  of  blockade  have  been  inter 
polated  in  the  laws  of  nations.  Every  man  of  candor  would  ask 
why  we  did  not,  then,  go  to  war  twelve  months  ago." 

""What  new  cause  of  war  has  been  avowed!"  said  Mr.  Clay  in  reply — 
"  The  affair  of  the  Chesapeake  is  settled,  to  be  sure,  but  only  to  paralyze  the 
spirit  of  the  country.  Has  Great  Britain  abstained  from  impressing  our 
seamen — -from  depredating  upon  our  property  ?  We  have  complete  proof,  in 
her  capture  of  our  ships,  in  her  exciting  our  frontier  Indians  to  hostility,  and 
in  her  sending  an  emissary  to  our  cities  to  excite  civil  war,  that  she  will  do 
everything  to  destroy  us:  our  resolution  and  spirit  are  our  only  dependence. 
Although  I  feel  warmly  upon  this  subject,"  continued  he,  "  I  pride  myself 
upon  those  feelings,  and  should  despise  myself  if  I  were  destitute  of  them." 

Mr.  Quincy  expressed  in  strong  terms  his  abhorrence  of  the 
proposed  measure.  He  said  that  his  objections  were,  that  it  was 
not  what  it  pretended  to  be  ;  and  was  what  it  pretended  not  to 
be.  That  it  was  not  embargo  preparatory  to  war ;  but  that  it 
was  embargo  as  a  substitute  for  the  question  of  declaring  war. 
"  I  object  to  it,"  said  he,  "  because  it  is  no  efficient  preparation ; 
because  it  is  not  a  progress  toward  honorable  war,  but  a  subter 
fuge  from  the  question.  If  we  must  perish,  let  us  perish  by  any 
hand  except  our  own.  Any  fate  is  better  than  self-slaughter." 

Against  this  storm  of  opposition  Henry  Clay  presented  an  un 
daunted  front.  As  the  debate  was  carried  on  with  closed  doors, 
no  ample  record  of  it  is  in  existence.  But  a  member  of  Con 
gress,  who  was  present,  says  :  "  On  this  occasion  Mr.  Clay  was 
a  flame  of  fire.  He  had  now  brought  Congress  to  the  verge  of 
what  he  conceived  to  be  a  war  for  liberty  and  honor,  and  his 
voice  rang  through  the  capitol  like  a  trumpet-tone  sounding  for 
the  onset.  On  the  subject  of  the  policy  of  the  embargo,  his  elo 
quence,  like  a  Roman  phalanx,  bore  down  all  opposition,  and  he 
put  to  shame  those  of  his  opponents,  who  flouted  the  government 
as  being  unprepared  for  war." 

The  message  recommending  an  embargo  was  referred  to  the 
committee  on  foreign  relations,  who  reported  a  bill  for  carrying 
it  into  effect,  which  was  adopted  by  the  house.  In  the  senate  it 
underwent  a  slight  alteration  in  the  substitution  of  ninety  for 
sixty  days  as  the  term  of  the  embargo.  This  amendment  was 
concurred  in  ;  and  on  the  fourth  of  April,  Mr.  Crawford  reported 


HIS    INTERCOURSE    WITH    JOHN    RANDOLPH.  41 

the  presentation  of  the  bill  to  the  president,  and  that  it  had  re 
ceived  his  signature. 

Through  the  indefatigable  exertions  of  Mr.  Clay  and  his  asso 
ciates,  the  attitude  of  resistance  to  aggression  was  now  boldly 
assumed — the  first  step  was  taken  toward  a  definite  declaration 
of  war. 

On  assuming  the  duties  of  the  speakership,  Mr.  Clay  had  fore 
seen,  from  the  peculiar  character  and  constitution  of  mind  of  that 
remarkable  and  distinguished  man,  John  Randolph,  that  it  would 
be  extremely  difficult  to  maintain  with  him  relations  of  civility 
and  friendship.  He,  therefore,  resolved  to  act  on  the  principle 
of  never  giving  and  never  receding  an  insult  without  immediate 
notice,  if  he  were  in  a  place  where  it  could  be  noticed.  Their 
mode  of  intercourse  or  non-intercourse  was  most  singular.  Some 
times  weeks,  months  would  pass  without  their  speaking  to  each, 
other.  Then,  for  an  equal  space  of  time,  no  two  gentlemen 
could  treat  each  other  with  more  courtesy  and  attention.  Mr. 
Randolph,  on  entering  the  house  in  the  morning,  while  these 
better  feelings  prevailed,  would  frequently  approach  the  chair, 
bow  respectfully  to  the  speaker,  and  inquire  after  his  health. 

But  Mr.  Randolph  was  impatient  of  all  restraints,  and  could 
not  bruok  those  which  were  sometimes  applied  to  himself  by  the 
speaker  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  chair.  On  one  oc 
casion  he  appealed  to  his  constituents,  and  was  answered  by  Mr. 
Clay.  The  case  was  this  :  Mr.  Clay,  in  one  of  his  morning 
rides,  passed  through  Georgetown,  where  Mr.  Randolph,  the 
late  Mr.  J.  Lewis,  of  Virginia,  and  other  members  of  Congress, 
boarded.  Meeting  with  Mr.  Lewis,  that  gentleman  inquired  of 
him,  if  there  were  any  news.  Mr.  Clay  informed  him,  that  on 
the  Monday  following,  President  Madison  would  send  a  message 
to  Congress,  recommending  a  declaration  of  war  against  Great 
Britain. 

The  day  after  this  meeting,  Mr.  Randolph  came  to  the  house, 
and  having  addressed  the  speaker  in  a  very  rambling,  desultory 
speech  for  about  an  hour,  he  was  reminded  from  the  chair,  that 
there  was  no  question  pending  before  the  house.  Mr.  Randolph 
said  he  would  present  one.  He  was  requested  to  state  it.  He 
stated  that  ho  "  meant  to  move  a  resolution,  that  it  was  not  ex- 


42  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

pedient  to  declare  war  against  Great  Britain."  The  speaker, 
according  to  a  rule  of  the  house,  desired  him  to  reduce  his  reso 
lution  to  writing,  and  to  send  it  to  the  chair ;  which  he  accord 
ingly  did.  And  thereupon  the  speaker  informed  him,  that  before 
he  could  proceed  in  his  speech,  the  house  must  decide  that  it 
would  now  consider  his  resolution.  Upon  putting  that  question 
to  the  house,  it  was  decided  by  a  large  majority,  that  it  would 
not  consider  the  resolution ;  and  thus  Mr.  Randolph  was  pre 
vented  from  haranguing  the  house  farther  in  its  support.  Of  this 
he  complained,  and  published  an  address  to  his  constituents. 

Some  expressions  in  this  address  seeming  to  require  notice, 
Mr.  Clay  addressed  a  communication  under  his  own  name,  to 
the  editor  of  the  National  Intelligencer,  in  which  he  reviews  the 
questions  at  issue  between  him  and  Mr.  Randolph,  and  vindicates 
the  justice  of  his  recent  decisions  in  the  chair, 

"Two  principles,"  he  says,  "are  settled  by  these  decisions;  the  first  is, 
[hat  the  house  has  a  right  to  know,  through  its  organ,  the  specific  motion 
which  a  member  intends  making,  before  he  undertakes  to  argue  it  at  large ; 
and  in  the  second  place,  that  it  reserves  to  itself  the  exercise  of  the  power 
of  determining  whether  it  will  consider  it  at  the  particular  time  when  of 
fered,  prior  to  his  thus  proceeding  to  argue  it." 

Every  succeeding  Congress  has  acknowledged  the  validity  of 
the  principles  thus  established  by  Mr.  Clay.  They  seem  es 
sential  to  the  proper  regulation  of  debate  in  a  large  legislative 
body.  * 

A  bill  from  the  committee  on  foreign  relations  was  reported  to 
the  house  on  the  third  of  June,  1812,  declaring  war  between  Great 
Britain  and  her  dependencies  and  the  United  States.  On  the 
eighteenth  it  had  passed  both  houses  of  Congress  ;  and  the  next 
day  the  president's  proclamation  was  issued,  declaring  the  actual 
existence  of  war.  On  the  sixth  of  July,  Congress  adjourned  to 
the  first  Monday  in  November. 

Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Lowndes,  Mr.  Cheves,  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  were 
the  leaders,  who  sustained  and  carried  through  the  declaration 
of  war.  MX.  Clay,  fully  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  the 
honor  and  the  highest  interests  of  the  country  demanded  the  dec 
laration,  was  ardent,  active,  and  enthusiastic  in  its  support.  To 
him  was  assigned  the  responsible  duty  of  appointing  all  the  com 
mittees.  Mr.  Madison's  cabinet  was  not  unanimous  on  the  sub- 


MR.    CKEVES      ND    MR.    GALLATIN.  43 

ject  of  war.  Mr.  Madison  himself  was  in  favor  of  it,  but  seemed 
to  go  into  it  with  much  repugnance  and  great  apprehension.  The 
character  sf  his  mind  was  one  of  extreme  caution,  bordering  on  tim 
idity,  although  he  acted  with  vigor  and  firmness  when  his  reso- 
fution  was  once  taken.  Mr.  Gallatin,  the  secretary  of  the  treas 
ury,  was  adverse  to  the  war. 

It  was  the  opinion  and  wish  of  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Cheves,  and 
their  friends,  that  financial  as  well  as  military  and  naval  prepara 
tions  should  be  made  for  the  conduct  of  the  war,  and  previous  to 
its  declaration.  Accordingly,  Mr.  Gallatin  was  called  upon  to 
report  a  system  of  finance  appropriate  to  the  occasion.  He  had 
enjoyed  a  high  reputation  for  financial  ability :  and  it  was  hoped 
and  anticipated  that  he  would  display  it  when  he  made  his  re 
quired  report.  But  the  disappointment  was  great  when  his  re 
port  appeared.  Instead  of  indicating  any  new  source  of  revenue 
—  instead  of  suggesting  any  great  plan  calling  forth  the  resources 
of  the  nation,  he  reported  in  favor  of  all  the  old  odious  taxes  — 
excise,  stamp  duties,  &c.,  which  had  been  laid  during  previous 
administrations.  It  was  believed  from  the  offensive  nature  of  the 
taxes,  that  his  object  was  to  repress  the  war  spirit.  But  far 
from  being  discouraged,  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  resolved  to 
impose  the  duties  recommended. 

Mr.  Cheves  was  at  the  head  of  the  committee  of  ways  and 
means,  and  went  laboriously  to  work  to  prepare  numerous  bills 
for  the  collection  of  taxes  as  suggested  by  the  secretary.  After 
they  were  prepared  and  reported,  it  was  for  the  first  time  dis 
covered  that  the  executive,  and  more  especially  Mr.  Gallatin, 
were  opposed  to  the  imposition  of  taxes  at  the  same  session  dur 
ing  which  war  was  declared.  This  was  ascertained  by  the  ac 
tive  exertions  of  Mr.  Smiley,  a  leading  and  influential  member 
from  Pennsylvania,  and  the  confidential  friend  of  Mr,  Gallatin.  In 
circles  of  the  members,  he  would  urge  in  conversation  the  ex 
pediency  of  postponing  the  taxes  to  another  session,  saying  that 
the  people  would  not  take  both  war  and  taxes  together. 

Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  were  aware  that  the  levying  of  taxes, 
always  a  difficult  and  up-hill  business,  could  not  be  effected  with 
out  the  hearty  concurrence  of  the  executive,  and  therefore  reluc 
tantly  submitted  to  the  postponement — a  most  unfortunate  delay. 


44  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

the  ill  effects  of  which  were  felt  throughout  the  whole  war.    M> 
Cheves,  who  had  plied  the  laboring  oar,  in  preparing  the  various 
revenue  bills,  was  highly  indignant,  and  especially  at  the  conduct 
jf  Mr.  Gallatin,  of  whom  he  ever  afterward  thought  unfavorably, 

The  negotiations  with  Mr.  Foster,  the  British  charge  d'affaires 
at  Washington,  were  protracted  up  to  the  period  of  the  declara 
tion  of  war.  The  republican  party  became  impatient  of  the  de 
lay.  It  was  determined  that  an  informal  deputation  should  wait 
upon  Mr.  Madison  to  expostulate  against  longer  procrastination ; 
and  it  was  agreed  that  Mr.  Clay  should  be  the  spokesman.  The 
gentlemen  of  the  deputation  accordingly  called  on  the  president, 
and  Mr.  Clay  stated  to  him  that  Congress  was  impatient  for  ac 
tion  ;  that  further  efforts  at  negotiation  were  vain ;  that  an  ac 
commodation  was  impracticable ;  that  the  haughty  spirit  of  Britain 
was  unbending  and  unyielding  ;  that  submission  to  her  arrogant 
pretensions,  especially  that  of  a  right  to  impress  our  seamen,  was 
impossible  ;  that  enough  had  been  done  by  us  with  a  view  to 
conciliation ;  that  the  time  for  decisive  action  had  arrived,  and 
war  was  inevitable. 

By  way  of  illustrating  the  difference  between  speaking  and 
writing,  and  acting,  Mr.  Clay  related  to  Mr.  Madison  an  anec 
dote  of  two  Kentucky  judges.  One  talked  incessantly  from  the 
bench.  He  reasoned  everybody  to  death.  He  would  deliver 
an  opinion,  and  first  try  to  convince  the  party  that  agreed  with 
him,  and  then  the  opposite  party.  The  consequence  was,  that 
business  lagged,  the  docket  accumulated,  litigants  complained, 
and  the  community  were  dissatisfied.  He  was  succeeded  by  a 
judge,  who  never  gave  any  reasons  for  his  opinion,  but  decided 
the  case  simply,  for  the  plaintiff  or  the  defendant.  His  decisions 
were  rarely  reversed  by  the  appellate  court — the  docket  melted 
away — litigants  were  no  longer  exposed  to  ruinous  delay — and 
the  community  were  contented.  "  Surely,"  said  Mr.  Clay,  "  we 
have  exhausted  the  argument  with  Great  Britain." 

Mr.  Madison  enjoyed  the  joke,  but,  in  his  good-natured,  sly 
way,  said,  he  also  had  heard  an  anecdote  of  a  French  judge,  wno 
after  the  argument  of  the  cause  was  over,  put  the  papers  of  the 
contending  parties  into  opposite  scales,  and  decided  according  to 
the  preponderance  of  weight. 


HIS    CONFERENCE    WITH    MR.    MADISON,  45 

Speaking  of  the  opposition  of  the  federal  party,  Mr.  Clay  re 
marked  that  they  Avere  neither  to  be  conciliated  nor  silenced  — 
"  Let  us  do  what  we  sincerely  believe  to  be  right,  and  trust  to 
God  and  the  goodness  of  our  cause." 

Mr.  Madison  said,  that  our  institutions  were  founded  upon  the 
principle  of  the  competency  of  man  for  self-government,  and  that 
we  should  never  be  tired  of  appealing  to  the  reason  and  judg 
ment  of  the  people. 

Such  deference  did  Mr.  Madison  have,  however,  for  the  opin 
ion  and  advice  of  his  friends,  that  shortly  after  this  conference, 
he  transmitted  his  war-message  to  Congress. 

The  second  session  of  the  twelfth  Congress  took  place  at  the 
appointed  time.  Events  of  an  important  character  had  occurred 
since  it  last  met.  The  war  had  been  prosecuted ;  and  we  had  sus 
tained  some  reverses.  General  Hull,  to  whom  had  been  assign 
ed  the  defence  of  the  Michigan  frontier,  had,  after  an  unsuccess 
ful  incursion  into  the  neighboring  territory  of  the  enemy,  sur 
rendered  ingloriously  the  town  and  fort  of  Detroit. 

An  attack  was  made  on  the  post  of  the  enemy  near  Niagara, 
by  a  detachment  of  regular  and  other  forces  under  Major-General 
Van  Rensselaer,  and  after  displaying  much  gallantry  had  been 
compelled  to  yield,  with  considerable  loss,  to  reinforcements  of 
savages  and  British  regulars. 

But  though  partially  unsuccessful  on  the  land,  the  Americans 
had  won  imperishable  trophies  on  the  sea.  Our  public  ships 
and  private  cruisers  had  made  the  enemy  sensible  of  the  differ 
ence  between  a  reciprocity  of  captures,  and  the  long  confinement 
of  them  to  their  side.  The  frigate  Constitution,  commanded  by 
Captain  Hull,  after  a  close  and  short  engagement,  had  completely 
disabled  the  British  frigate  Guerriere.  A  vast  amount  of  prop 
erty  had  been  saved  to  the  country  by  the  course  pursued  by  a 
squadron  of  our  frigates  under  the  command  of  Commodore 
Rodgers. 

A  strong  disposition  to  adjust  existing  difficulties  with  Great 
Britain  had,  in  the  meantime,  been  manifested  by  our  government. 
Our  charge  d'affaires  at  London  had  been  authorized  to  accede 
to  certain  terms,  by  which  the  war  might  be  arrested,  without 
awaiting  the  delays  of  a  formal  and  final  pacification. 


46  LIFE    OF    H ENTRY    CLAY. 

These  terms  required  substantially,  that  the  British  orders  ir 
council  should  be  repealed  as  they  affected  the  United  States, 
without  a  revival  of  blockades  violating  acknowledged  rules  ;  that 
tiiere  should  be  an  immediate  discharge  of  American  seamen 
from  British  ships.  On  such  terms  an  armistice  was  proposed 
by  our  government. 

These  advances  were  declined  by  Great  Britain,  from  an  avow 
ed  repugnance  to  a  suspension  of  the  practice  of  impressment  during 
theMrmistice. 

(Early  in  January,  1813,  a  bill  from  the  military  committee  of 
the  house,  for  the  raising  of  an  additional  force,  not  exceeding 
twenty  thousand  men,  underwent  a  long  and  animated  discussion 
in  committee  of  the  whole.  The  opposition,  on  this  occasion, 
rallied  all  their  strength  to  denounce  the  measure.  Mr.  Quincy, 
to  whom  we  have  before  alluded,  made  a  most  bitter  harangue 
against  it  and  its  supporters.  "  Since  the  invasion  of  the  bucca 
neers,"  said  Mr.  Q.,  "  there  is  nothing  in  history  like  this  war." 
Alluding  to  some  of  the  friends  of  the  administration,  he  stigma 
tized  them  as  "  household  troops,  who  longed  for  what  they  could 
pick  up  about  the  government-house — toad-eaters,  who  lived  on 
eleemosynary,  ill-purchased  courtesy,  upon  the  palace,  who  swal 
lowed  great  men's  spittle,  got  judgeships,  and  wondered  at  the 
fine  sights,  fine  rooms,  and  fine  company,  and,  most  of  all,  won 
dered  how  they  themselves  got  there." 

Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  came  in  for  no 
small  share  of  the  same  gentleman's  abuse. 

£0n  the  8th  of  January,  Mr.  Clay  rose  in  defence  of  the  new 
army  bill,  and  in  reply  to  the  violent  and  personal  remarks,  which 
had  fallen  from  the  opposition.  His  effort,  op  this  occasion,  was 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  in  his  whole  career*1  It  is  imperfectly 
reported  ;  for  Mr.  Clay  has  been  always  too  inattentive  to  the  prep 
aration  of  his  speeches  for  the  press.  To  form  an  adequate  idea 
of  his  eloquence  we  must  look  to  the  effect  it  produced — to  the 
legislation  which  it  swayed. 

That  portion  of  Mr.  Clay's  speech,  in  which  he  vindicated  his 
illustrious  friend,  Thomas  Jefferson,  from  the  aspersions  of  the 
leader  of  the  federalists,  has  been  deservedly  admired  as  a  speci- 


HIS    VINDICATION    OF    MR.    JEFFERSON.  47 

men  of  energetic  and  indignant  eloquence.     It  must  have  fallen 
with  crushing  effect  upon  him  who  called  it  forth  :  — 

"  Next  to  the  notice  which  the  opposition  has  found  itself  called  upon  to 
bestow  upon  the  French  emperor,  a  distinguished  citizen  of  Virginia,  formerly 
president  of  the  United  States,  has  never,  for  a  moment,  failed  to  receive 
their  kindest  and  most  respectful  attention.  An  honorable  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  (of  whom,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  it  becomes  necessary  for  me,  in 
the  course  of  my  remarks,  to  take  some  notice)  has  alluded  to  him  in  a  re 
markable  manner.  Neither  his  retirement  from  the  public  office,  his  emi 
nent  services,  nor  his  advanced  age,  can  exempt  this  patriot  from  the  coarse 
assaults  of  party  malevolence.  No,  sir ;  in  1801,  he  snatched  from  the  rude 
hands  of  usurpation  the  violated  constitution  of  the  country,  and  that  is  his 
crime.  He  preserved  that  instrument  in  form,  and  substance,  and  spirit,  a 
precious  inheritance  for  generations  to  come,  and  for  this  he  can  never  be 
forgiven. 

"  How  vain  and  impotent  is  party  rage,  directed  against  such  a  man !  He 
is  not  more  elevated  by  his  lofty  residence  upon  the  summit  of  his  own 
favorite  mountain,  than  he  is  lifted  by  the  serenity  of  his  mind,  and  the  con 
sciousness  of  a  well-spent  life,  above  the  indignant  passions  and  feelings  of 
the  day.  No !  his  own  beloved  Monticello  is  not  less  moved  by  the  storms 
that  beat  against  its  sides,  than  is  this  illustrious  man  by  the  howlings  of  the 
whole  British  pack  let  loose  from  the  Essex  kennel ! 

"  When  the  gentleman,  to  whom  I  have  been  compelled  to  allude,  shall 
have  mingled  his  dust  with  that  of  his  abused  ancestors — when  he  shall  have 
been  consigned  to  oblivion,  or,  if  he  live  at  all,  shall  live  only  in  the  treason 
able  annals  of  a  certain  junto,  the  name  of  Jefferson  will  be  hailed  with 
gratitude,  his  memory  honored  and  cherished  as  the  second  founder  of  the 
liberties  of  the  people,  and  the  period  of  his  administration  will  be  looked 
back  to  as  one  of  the  happiest  and  brightest  epochs  in  American  history. 

•'  But  I  beg  the  gentleman's  pardon.  He  has  indeed  secured  to  himself  a 
more  imperishable  fame  than  I  had  supposed.  I  think  it  was  about  four 
years  ago,  that  he  submitted  to  the  house  of  representatives,  an  initiative 
proposition  for  an  impeachment  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  The  house  condescended 
to  consider  it.  The  gentleman  debated  it  with  his  usual  temper,  moderation, 
and  urbanity.  The  house  decided  upon  it  in  the  most  solemn  manner ;  and, 
although  the  gentleman  had  somehow  obtained  a  second,  the  final  vote  stood, 
one  for,  and  one  hundred  and  seventeen  against  the  proposition  I  The  same 
historic  page  that  transmitted  to  posterity  the  virtue  and  glory  of  Henry  the 
Great  of  France,  for  their  admiration  and  example,  has  preserved  the  in 
famous  name  of  the  fanatic  assassin  of  the  excellent  monarch.  The  same 
sacred  pen  that  portrayed  the  sufferings  and  crucifixion  of  the  Savior  of 
mankind,  has  recorded  for  universal  execration,  the  name  of  him  who  was 
guilty — not  of  betraying  his  country — but — a — kindred  crime — of  betray 
ing  his  God  !"* 

In  other  parts  of  his  speech,  Mr.  Clay  electrified  the  house  by 
his  impassioned  eloquence.  The  day  was  intensely  cold,  and, 
for  the  cnly  time  in  his  life,  he  found  it  difficult  to  keep  himself 
warm  by  the  exercise  of  speaking.  But  the  members  crowded 

*  When  the  proposition  was  made  to  impeach  Thomaa  Jefferson,  Mr.  Clay  is  said  to  have 
risen,  and  exclaimed  in  reference  to  the  mover,  "  Sir,  the  gentleman  soils  the  spot  he  stands 
upon." 


48  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

around  him  in  hushed  admiration  ;  and  there  were  few  among 
them  who  did  not  testify  by  their  streaming  tears  his  mastery 
over  the  passions.  The  subject  of  impressment  was  touched 
upon  ;  and  the  matchless  pathos  with  which  he  depicted  the  con 
sequences  of  that  infernal  system — portraying  the  situation  of  a 
supposed  victim  to  its  tyrannic  outrages — thrilled  through  every 
heart.  The  reported  passage  can  but  feebly  convey  a  conception 
of  the  impression  produced.  As  well  might  we  attempt  to  form 
an  adequate  idea  of  one  of  Raphael's  pictures  from  a  written  de 
scription,  as  to  transcribe  the  eloquence  of  Clay  on  this  occasion. 
Even  were  his  glowing  words  fully  and  correctly  given,  how 
much  of  the  effect  would  be  lost  in  the  absence  of  that  sweet 
and  silvery  voice — that  graceful  and  expressive  action — those 
flashing  eyes — which  gave  life,  and  potency,  axid  victory  to  his 
language  !  In  conclusion,  Mr.  Clay  said  :  — 

"  My  plan  would  be  to  call  out  the  ample  resources  of  the  country,  give 
them  a  judicious  direction,  prosecute  the  war  with  the  utmost  vigor,  strike 
wherever  we  can  reach  the  enemy,  at  sea  oron  land,  and  negotiate  the  terms 
of  a  peace  at  Quebec  or  at  Halifax.  We  are  told  that  England  is  a  proud 
and  lofty  nation,  which,  disdaining  to  wait  for  danger,  meets  it  half  way 
Haughty  as  she  is,  we  once  triumphed  over  her,  and,  if  we  do  not  listen  to 
the  counsels  of  timidity  and  despair,  we  shall  again  prevail.  In  such  a 
cause,  with  the  aid  of  Providence,  we  must  come  out  crowned  with  success 
but  if  we  fail,  let  us  fail  like  men — lash  ourselves  to  our  gallant  tars,  and 
expire  together  in  one  common  struggle — FIGHTING  FOR  FREE  TRADE  AND  SEA- 
WEN'S  RIGHTS!" 

frhe  army  bill,  thus  advocated  by  Mr.  Clay,  passed  the  house 
on  the  14th  of  January,  1813,  by  a  vote  of  seventy-seven  to 
forty-two^ 

On  the  10th  of  February,  the  president  of  the  senate,  in  the 
presence  of  both  houses  of  Congress,  proceeded  to  open  the  cer 
tificates  of  the  votes  of  the  electors  of  the  several  states  for 
president  and  vice  president  of  the  United  States.  The  vote 
stood  :  For  president,  James  Madison,  128  :  De  Witt  Clinton,  89. 
For  vice-president,  Elbridge  Gerry,  131  :  Jared  Ingersoll,  86. 
James  Madison  and  Elbridge  Gerry  were  accordingly  elected — 
*he  former  for  a  second  term.  The  war  policy  of  the  adminis 
tration  was  triumphantly  sustained  by  the  people. 

/The  first  session  of  the  thirteenth  Congress,  commenced  the 
twenty-fo  irth  of  May,  1813.     Mr.  Clay  was  again  chosen  speaker 


AMERICAN  VICTORIES.  49 

by  a  large  majority,  and  his  voice  of  exhortation  arid  encourage 
ment  continued  to  be  raised  in  committee  of  the  whole  in  vindi 
cation  of  the  honor  of  the  country  and  the  conduct  of  the  warT) 
The  president,  in  his  message,  alluded  to  the  spirit  in  which  the 
war  had  been  waged  by  the  British,  who  "  were  adding  to  the 
savage  fury  of  it  on  one  frontier,  a  system  of  plunder  and  con 
flagration  on  the  other,  equally  forbidden  by  respect  for  national 
character,  and  by  the  established  rules  of  civilized  warfare." 

Mr.  Clay  eloquently  called  attention  to  this  portion  of  the  mes 
sage,  and  declared  that  if  the  outrages  said  to  have  been  committed 
by  the  British  armies  and  their  savage  allies,  should  be  found  to 
be  as  public  report  had  stated  them,  they  called  for  the  indignation 
of  all  Christendom,  and  ought  to  be  embodied  in  an  authentic 
iocument,  which  might  perpetuate  them  on  the  page  of  history. 
Upon  this  motion,  a  resolution  was  adopted,  referring  this  portion 
of  the  president's  message  to  a  select  committee,  of  which  Mr. 
Maconwas  chairman.  A  report  was  subsequently  submitted  from 
this  committee,  in  which  an  abundance  of  testimony  was  brought 
forward,  showing  that  the  most  inhuman  outrages  had  been  re 
peatedly  perpetrated  upon  American  prisoners  by  the  Indian  allies 
of  British  troops,  and  often  under  the  eye  of  British  officers. 
The  report  closed  with  a  resolution  requesting  the  president  to 
lay  before  the  house,  during  the  progress  of  the  war,  all  the  in 
stances  of  departure,  by  the  British,  from  the  ordinary  mode  of 
conducting  war  among  civilized  nations. 

The  new  Congress  had  commenced  its  session  at  a  period  of 
general  exultation  among  all  patriotic  Americans.  Several  honor 
able  victories,  by  sea  and  land,  had  shed  lustre  on  our  annals. 
Captain  Lawrence,  of  the  Hornet,  with  but  eighteen  guns,  had 
captured,  after  a  brisk  and  gallant  action  of  fifteen  minutes,  the 
British  sloop-of-war  Peacock,  Captain  Peake,  carrying  twenty- 
two  guns  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  men — the  latter  losing  her 
captain  and  nine  men,  with  thirty  wounded,  while  our  loss  was 
but  one  killed  and  two  wounded.  York,  the  capital  of  Upper 
Canada,  had  been  captured  by  the  army  of  the  centre,  in  con 
nection  with  a  naval  force  on  Lake  Ontario,  under  Gen.  Dear 
born  ;  while  the  issue  of  the  siege  of  Fort  Meigs,  under  Gen 
0  4 


50  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Harrison,  had  won  for  that  officer  an  imperishable  renown  as  a 
brave  and  skilful  soldier. 

In  September  of  the  preceding  year,  the  emperor  Alexander, 
of  Russia,  had  intimated  to  Mr.  Adams,  our  minister  at  St.  Peters- 
burgh,  his  intention  of  tendering  his  services  as  mediator  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  The  proposition  had  been 
favorably  received,  and  assurances  had  been  given  to  the  em 
peror  of  the  earnest  desire  of  our  government  that  the  interest 
of  Russia  might  remain  entirely  unaffected  by  the  existing  war 
between  us  and  England,  and  that  no  more  intimate  connections 
with  France  would  be  formed  by  the  United  States.  With  these 
assurances  the  emperor  had  been  highly  gratified  ;  and  in  the 
early  part  of  March,  1813,  the  Russian  minister  at  Washington, 
M.  Daschkoff,  had  formally  proffered  the  mediation  of  his  govern 
ment,  which  was  readily  accepted  by  the  president.  It.  was  reject 
ed,  however,  by  the  British  government,  to  the  great  surprise  of 
our  own,  on  the  ground  that  their  commercial  and  maritime  rights 
would  not  thereby  be  as  effectually  secured  as  they  deemed 
necessary ;  but,  accompanying  the  rejection,  was  an  expression 
of  willingness  to  treat  directly  with  the  United  States,  either  at 
Gottenburg  or  at  London  ;  and  the  interposition  of  the  emperoi 
was  requested  in  favor  of  such  an  arrangement. 

In  consequence  of  the  friendly  offer  of  the  Russian  govern 
ment,  Messrs.  Albert  Gallatin  and  James  A.  Bayard,  had  been 
sent  to  join  our  resident  minister,  Mr.  Adams,  as  envoys-extra 
ordinary  at  St.  Petersburgh.  The  proposal  of  the  British  min 
istry,  to  treat  with  us  at  Gottenburg,  was  soon  after  accepted,  and 
Messrs.  Clay  and  Jonathan  Russell  were  appointed,  in  conjunction 
with  the  three  plenipotentiaries  then  in  Russia,  to  conduct  the 
negotiations.  On  the  19th  of  January,  1814,  Mr.  Clay,  in  an  ap 
propriate  address,  accordingly  resigned  his  station  as  speaker  of 
the  house.  The  same  day  a  resolution  was  passed  by  that  body 
thanking  him  for  the  ability  and  impartiality  with  which  he  had 
presided.  The  resolution  was  adopted  almost  unanimously- 
only  nine  members  voting  in  opposition.  / 

Mr.  Clay  had  always  asserted  that  an  honorable  peace  was 
attainable  only  by  an  efficient  war.  In  Congress,  he  had  been 
the  originator  and  most  ardent  supporter  of  nearly  all  those  meas- 


HIS    SERVICES    DURING    THE    WAR.  51 

ures  which  had  for  their  object  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  hos 
tilities  against  Great  Britainy  On  every  occasion,  his  trumpet- 
voice  was  heard,  cheering  on  the  house  and  the  country  to 
confidence  and  victory.  No  auguries  of  evil — no  croakings  of 
despondency — no  suggestions  of  timidity — no  violence  of  fed 
eral  opposition  —  could  for  a  moment,  shake  his  patriotic  purposes, 
diminish  his  reliance  on  the  justice  of  our  cause,  or  induce  him 
to  hesitate  in  that  policy,  which  he  believed  the  honor  and — 
what  was  inseparable  from  the  honor — the  interests  of  the 
country  demanded. 

The  measure  of  gratitude  due  him  from  his  fellow-citizens,  for 
his  exertions  in  this  cause  alone,  is  not  to  be  calculated  or  paid. 
But  on  the  scroll  where  Freedom  inscribes  the  names  of  her 
worthiest  champions,  destined  to  an  immortal  renown  in  her  an 
nals,  the  name  of  HENRY  CLAY  will  be  found  with  those  of 
WASHINGTON,  JEFFERSON,  and  MADISON. 

Having  been  the  most  efficient  leader  in  directing  the  legisla 
tive  action  which  originated  and  directed  to  a  prosperous  termi 
nation  the  war  with  Great  Britain  —  a  war  which  the  voice  of 
an  impartial  posterity  must  admit  to  have  elevated  and  strength 
ened  us  as  a  nation — Mr.  Clay  was  now  appropriately  selected 
as  one  of  the  commissioners  to  arrange  a  treaty  of  peace. 


&2  LIFE  OF  HENRY  CLAY. 

IV. 

TREATY  OF  GHENT MR.  CLAY'S  RETURN. 

THE  commissioners  met  first  at  Gottingen,  but  their  meetings 
were  afterward  transferred  to  Ghent.  \  The  conferences  occu 
pied  a  space  of  time  of  about  five  months.  The  American  com 
missioners  were  in  reality  negotiating  with  the  whole  British 
ministry ;  for,  whenever  they  addressed  a  diplomatic  note  of  any 
importance  to  the  British  commissioners,  it  was  by  them  trans 
mitted  to  London,  from  which  place  the  substance  of  an  answer 
was  returned  in  the  form  of  instructions.  The  consequence  was 
that  the  American  commissioners,  after  having  delivered  a  diplo 
matic  note,  had  to  wait  about  a  week  before  they  received  a 
reply. 

In  one  of  these  pauses  of  the  negotiation,  Mr.  Clay  made  a 
little  excursion  to  Brussels,  and  Mr.  Goulbourne  went  there  at 
the  same  time.  The  British  commissioners  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  sending  their  English  newspapers  to  the  American  com 
missioners,  through  which  the  latter  often  derived  the  first  intel 
ligence  of  events  occurring  in  America. 

The  morning  after  Mr.  Clay's  arrival  in  Brussels,  upon  his 
coming  down  to  breakfast,  his  servant,  Frederick  Cara,  whom  he 
had  taken  with  him  from  the  city  of  Washington,  threw  some 
papers  upon  the  breakfast  table,  and  burst  into  tears.  "  What's 
the  matter,  Frederick  ?" — "  The  British  have  taken  Washington, 
sir,  and  Mr.  Goulbourne  has  sent  you  those  papers,  which  con 
tain  the  account." — "  Is  it  possible  ?"  exclaimed  Mr.  Clay.  "  It 
is  too  true,  sir,"  returned  Frederick,  whining  piteously. 

The  news  was  by  no  means  agreeable  to  Mr.  Clay ;  nor  was 
his  concern  diminished  when  he  thought  of  the  channel  through 
which  it  had  been  conveyed  to  him,  although  fully  persuaded 
that  Mr.  Goulbourne  had  not  been  actuated  by  any  uncourteous 
spirit  of  exultation.  Mr.  Clay  nevertheless  resolved  to  avail 
himself  of  the  first  favorable  opportunity  for  friendly  retaliation  ; 
and  one  fortunately  soon  occurred.  A  point  in  the  negotiation, 
which  had  been  very  much  pressed,  was  pacification  with  the 


THE    COMMISSIONERS    AT    GHENT.  53 

Indians,  which  the  American  commissioners  assured  the  British 
would  necessarily  follow  pacification  with  Great  Britain.  The 
former  received  some  recent  American  newspapers  contain 
ing  an  account  of  the  actual  conclusion  of  peace  with  some  of 
the  Indian  tribes,  but  containing  also  an  account  of  the  splendid 
naval  victory  won  on  Lake  Champlain.  Mr.  Clay  proposed  to 
the  American  commissioners  that  these  newspapers  should  be 
sent  to  the  British,  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that 
peace  was  made  with  some  of  the  Indians,  but  in  reality  to  afford 
them  an  opportunity  of  perusing  the  account  of  that  victory. 
With  the  concurrence  of  his  colleagues,  he  accordingly  addressed 
an  official  note  to  the  British  commissioners  transmitting  the 
newspapers. 

The  mode  of  transacting  business  among  the  American  com 
missioners  was,  upon  the  reception  of  an  official  note  from  the 
other  party,  to  deliberate  fully  upon  its  contents,  and  to  discuss 
them  at  a  board.  After  that,  the  paper  was  placed  in  the  hands 
of  one  of  the  commissioners  to  prepare  an  answer.  Upon  the 
preparation  of  that  answer,  it  was  carefully  examined  and  con 
sidered  by  the  board,  every  member  of  which  took  it  to  his  lodg 
ings  to  suggest  in  pencil  such  alterations  as  appeared  to  him, 
proper ;  and  these  were  again  considered  and  finally  adopted  or 
rejected,  and  the  paper  handed  to  the  secretary  to  be  copied  and 
recorded. 

In  the  composition  of  the  official  notes  sent  by  the  American 
to  the  British  commissioners,  the  pen  of  Mr.  Gallatin  was,  per 
haps,  most  frequently  employed  ;  then  that  of  Mr.  Adams  ;  then 
that  of  Mr.  Clay.  Messrs.  Bayard  and  Russell  wrote  the  least. 

During  the  progress  of  the  negotiation  and  at  a  very  critical 
period  of  it,  the  official  despatches  of  the  American  commissioners, 
giving  a  full  account  of  the  prospects  of  the  negotiation,  and  ex 
pressing  very  little  hope  of  its  successful  termination,  having 
been  published  by  the  order  of  the  American  government,  came 
back  to  the  commissioners  at  Ghent  in  the  newspapers.  They 
arrived  in  the  evening,  just  as  the  American  commissioners  were 
dressed  to  go  to  a  ball  given  to  the  commissioners  by  the  author 
ities  of  Ghent.  The  unexpected  publication  of  these  despatches 
excited  the  surprise  and  regret  of  the  American  commissioners. 


54  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Some  of  them  thought  that  a  rupture  of  the  negotiation  would  be 
the  consequence.  Mr.  Clay,  on  account  of  his  open  and  frank 
manner,  was  on  terms  of  more  unreserved  and  free  intercourse 
with  the  British  commissioners  than  any  of  his  colleagues,  and 
he  resolved  that  evening  to  sound  the  former  as  to  the  effect  of 
this  publication  of  the  despatches.  He  accordingly  addressed 
himself  to  the  three  commissioners  severally  in  succession  at  the 
ball,  beginning  with  Lord  Gambier,  who  was  the  most  distin 
guished  for  amenity  and  benevolence  of  character,  and  saying  : 
"  You  perceive,  my  lord,  that  our  government  had  published  our 
despatches,  and  that  now  the  whole  world  knows  what  we  are 
doing  here." — "  Yes,"  replied  his  lordship,  "  I  have  seen  it  with 
infinite  surprise,  and  the  proceeding  is  without  example  in  the 
civilized  world."  To  which  Mr.  Clay  mildly  rejoined  :  "  Why 
my  lord,  you  must  recollect  that,  at  the  time  of  the  publication  of 
these  despatches,  our  government  had  every  reason  to  suppose, 
from  the  nature  of  the  pretensions  and  demands  which  yours 
brought  forward,  that  our  negotiation  would  not  terminate  suc 
cessfully,  and  that  the  publication  would  not  find  us  here  together. 
I  am  quite  sure,  that  if  our  government  had  anticipated  the  pres 
ent  favorable  aspect  of  our  deliberations,  the  publication  of  the 
despatches  would  not  have  been  ordered.  Then,  your  lordship 
must  also  recollect,  that  if,  as  you  truly  asserted,  the  publication 
of  despatches  pending  a  negotiation  is  not  according  to  the  cus 
tom  of  European  diplomacy,  our  government  itself  is  organized 
upon  principles  totally  different  from  those  on  which  European 
governments  are  constituted.  With  us,  the  business  in  which 
we  were  here  engaged,  is  the  people's  business.  We  are  their 
servants,  and  they  have  a  right  to  know  how  their  business  is 
going  on.  The  publication,  therefore,  was  to  give  the  people  in 
formation  of  what  intimately  affected  them." 

Lord  Gambier  did  not  appear  to  be  satisfied  with  this  explana 
tion,  although  he  was  silenced  by  it.  Mr.  Clay  had  a  similar 
interview  with  the  two  other  British  commissioners  ;  and  their 
feelings,  in  consequence  of  the  publication,  were  marked  by  the 
degree  of  excitability  of  their  respective  characters.  But  the 
fears  which  were  entertained  by  some  of  the  American  commis 
sioners  were  not  realized.  The  publication  was  never  spoken 


NAVIGATION    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI.  53 

of  in  conference,  and  the  negotiation  proceeded  to  a  successful 
issue  as  if  it  had  not  happened. 

Between  the  American  commissioners,  in  the  conduct  of  the 
negotiation  at  Ghent,  no  serious  difficulty  arose,  except  on  one 
point,  and  that  related  to  the  subject  of  the  fisheries  and  naviga 
tion  of  the  Mississippi.  By  the  third  article  of  the  definitive 
treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  concluded  in  September,  1783, 
certain  rights  of  fishing,  and  of  drying  and  curing  fish  within  the 
limits  of  British  jurisdiction,  and  upon  British  soil,  were  secured 
to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States.  And  by  the  eighth  article 
of  the  same  treaty,  it  was  stipulated  that  the  right  to  the  naviga 
tion  of  the  river  Mississippi,  from  its  source  to  the  ocean,  should 
remain  for  ever  free  and  open  to  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  citizens  of  the  United  States.  The  same  mutual  right 
of  navigation  was  recognised  by  Mr.  Jay's  treaty  of  1794. 

When  the  American  commissioners  were  in  consultation  as  to 
the  project  of  a  treaty  to  be  presented  to  the  consideration  of  the 
British  commissioners,  it  was  proposed  that  an  article  should  be 
inserted  renewing  those  rights  of  taking  and  curing  and  drying 
fish,  and  of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  To  such  a  pro 
posal,  Mr.  Clay  was  decidedly  opposed,  and  Mr.  Russell  con 
curred  with  him.  The  other  three  commissioners  were  for 
making  the  proposal.  The  argument  on  that  question  was  long, 
earnest  and  ardent.  Mr.  Clay  contended,  that  the  right  of  catch 
ing  fish  in  the  open  seas  and  bays,  being  incontestable,  the  privi 
lege  of  taking  them  and  curing  and  drying  them  within  the 
exclusive  jurisdiction  of  Great  Britain  was  of  little  or  no  impor 
tance,  especially  as  it  was  limited  to  the  time  that  the  British 
territory  should  remain  unsettled.  With  respect  to  the  navigation 
of  the  Mississippi,  he  contended,  that  at  the  dates  both  of  the  de 
finitive  treaty  of  peace  of  1783,  and  of  Mr.  Jay's  treaty  of  1794, 
Spain  owned  the  whole  of  the  right  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  in  all 
its  extent,  and  both  banks  of  it  from  the  Mexican  gulf  up  to  the 
boundary  of  the  United  States ;  that  at  both  those  periods,  it  was 
supposed  that  the  British  dominions  touched  on  the  Upper  Mis 
sissippi,  but  it  was  now  known  that  they  did  not  border  at  all  on 
that  river ;  that  now  the  whole  Mississippi,  from  its  uppermost 
source  to  the  gulf,  was  incontestably  within  the  limits  of  the 


56  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLA?. 

United  States.  He  could  not,  therefore,  conceive  the  propriety 
of  stipulating  with  Great  Britain  for  a  mutual  right  to  the  navi 
gation  of  that  river.  It  was  the  largest  river  in  the  United  States ; 
so  large  as  to  have  acquired  the  denomination  of  the  Father  of 
rivers.  Why  select  it  from  among  all  the  rivers  of  the  United 
States,  and  subject  it  to  a  foreign  vassalage  ?  Why  do  that  in 
respect  to  the  Mississippi  which  would  not  be  tolerated  as  re 
spects  the  North  river,  the  James,  or  the  Potomac  ?  What  would 
Great  Britain  herself  think  if  a  proposal  were  made  that  the  citi 
zens  of  the  United  States  and  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain  should 
have  a  mutual  right  to  navigate  the  Thames  1  To  make  the 
proposed  concession,  was  to  admit  of  a  British  partnership  with 
the  United  States  in  the  sovereignity  of  the  Mississippi,  so  far 
as  its  navigation  was  concerned.  Then  there  might  be  a  doubt 
and  a  dispute  whether  the  concession  did  not  comprehend  the 
tributaries  as  well  as  the  principal  stream.  If  the  grant  of  the 
right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi  was  to  be  regarded  as  an  equiv 
alent  for  the  concession  of  the  fishing  privilege,  Mr.  Clay  denied 
«hat  there  was  any  affinity  between  the  two  subjects.  They 
were  as  distant  in  their  nature  as  they  were  remote  from  each 
other  in  their  localities. 

On  the  other  side,  it  was  contended  that  it  would  occasion  re 
gret  and  dissatisfaction  in  the  United  States,  if  any  of  the  fishing 
privileges,  or  other  privileges,  which  had  been  enjoyed  before 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  should  not  be  secured  by  the  treaty 
of  peace  ;  that  those  fishing  privileges  were  very  important  and 
dear  to  a  section  of  the  Union,  which  had  been  adverse  to  the 
war ;  that  the  British  right  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
was  merely  a  nominal  concession,  which  would  not  result  in  any 
practical  injury  to  the  United  States  ;  that  foreigners  now  enjoyed 
the  right  to  navigate  all  the  rivers  up  to  the  ports  of  entry  estab 
lished  upon  them,  without  any  prejudice  to  our  interests ;  that 
Great  Britain  had  been  entitled  to  this  right  of  navigating  the 
Mississippi  from  the  period  of  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana  to  the 
declaration  of  war  in  1812,  without  any  mischief  or  inconvenience 
to  the  United  States. 

To  all  this,  Mr.  Clay  replied  that  if  we  lost  the  fishing  privi- 
?eges  within  the  exclusive  jurisdiction,  we  gained  the  total  ex- 


NAVIGATION    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI.  57 

emption  of  the  Mississippi  from  this  foreign  participation  with  us 
in  the  right  to  its  navigation ;  that  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  extent 
of  privileges  which  the  British  right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi 
comprised,  far  from  recommending  the  concession  to  him,  formed 
an  additional  objection  to  it ;  that  the  period  of  about  eight  years 
between  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana  and  the  declaration  of  war, 
was  too  short  for  us  to  ascertain  by  experience  what  practical 
use  Great  Britain  was  capable  of  making  of  that  right  of  naviga 
tion,  which  might  be  injurious  to  us.  We  knew  that  a  great 
many  of  the  Indian  tribes  were  situated  upon  the  sources  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  British  right  to  navigate  that  river  might  bring 
her  into  direct  contact  with  them,  and  we  had  sufficient  experi 
ence  of  the  pernicious  use  she  might  make  of  those  Indians. — 
He  was  as  anxious  as  any  of  his  colleagues  to  secure  all  the  rights 
of  fishing,  and  curing  and  drying  fish,  which  had  hitherto  been 
enjoyed ;  but  he  could  not  consent  to  the  purchase  of  temporary 
and  uncertain  privileges  within  the  British  limits,  at  the  expense 
of  putting  a  foreign  and  degrading  mark  upon  the  noblest  of  all  our 
rivers. 

After  the  argument,  which  was  extended  to  several  sessions 
of  the  consultation  meetings  of  the  American  commissioners, 
was  exhausted,  it  appeared  that  the  same  three  commissioners 
were  inclined  to  make  the  proposal.  In  that  stage  of  the  pro 
ceedings,  Mr.  Clay  said,  he  felt  it  due  to  his  colleagues  to  state 
to  them  that  he  would  affix  his  signature  to  no  treaty  which  shoula 
make  to  Great  Britain  the  contemplated  concession.  After  the  an 
nouncement  of  this  determination,  Mr.  Bayard  united  with  Messrs. 
Clay  and  Russell,  and  then  formed  a  majority  against  tendering 
the  proposal  —  and  it  was  not  made. 

But,  at  a  subsequent  period  of  the  negotiation,  when  the  Brit 
ish  commissioners  made  their  proposition  for  a  treaty,  on«  of  the 
propositions  was  to  renew  the  British  right  to  navigate  the  Mis 
sissippi  simply,  without  including  the  fishing  privileges  in  ques 
tion.  On  examining  this  proposal,  the  American  commissioners 
considered,  first,  whether  they  should  accept  the  proposals  with 
or  without  conditions.  All  united  in  agreeing  that  it  ought  not 
to  be  unconditionally  accepted.  But  the  same  three  commission 
ers  who  had  been  originally  in  favor  of  an  article  which  should 


58  LIFE    OF    KENRY    CLAY. 

include  both  the  Mississippi  and  the  fishing  privileges  within  the 
British  limits,  appeared  to  be  now  in  favor  of  accepting  the  Brit 
ish  proposal,  upon  the  condition  that  it  should  comprehend  those 
fishing  privileges.  Mr.  Clay  did  not  renew  the  expression  of 
his  determination  to  sign  no  treaty  which  should  concede  to  the 
British  the  right  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  although  he 
remained  fixed  in  that  purpose  ;  for  he  apprehended  that  a  repe 
tition  of  the  expression  of  his  determination  might  be  miscon 
ceived  by  his  colleagues. 

It  was  accordingly  proposed  to  the  British  commissioners  to 
accept  the  proposal  with  the  condition  just  stated.  In  a  subse 
quent  conference  between  the  two  commissions,  the  British  de 
clined  accepting  the  proposed  conditions,  and  it  was  mutually 
agreed  to  leave  both  subjects  out  of  the  treaty.  And  thus,  as 
Mr.  Clay  wished  from  the  first,  the  Mississippi  river  became  lib 
erated  from  all  British  pretensions  of  a  right  to  navigate  it  from 
the  ocean  to  its  source. 

A  controversy  having  arisen  between  Messrs.  Adams  and 
Russell,  about  the  year  1823,  in  respect  to  some  points  in  the 
negotiations  at  Ghent,  an  embittered  correspondence  took  place 
between  those  two  gentlemen.  In  the  course  of  it,  Mr.  Clay 
thought  that  Mr.  Adams  had  unintentionally  fallen  into  some  er 
rors,  which  Mr.  Clay,  in  a  note  addressed  to  the  public,  stated 
he  would  at  some  future  day  correct.  About  the  year  1828  or 
1829,  Mr.  Russell,  without  the  previous  consent  of  Mr.  Clay, 
published  a  confidential  letter  addressed  by  Mr.  Clay  to  him,  in 
which  he  expresses  his  condemnation  of  Mr.  Russell's  course  in 
the  alteration  of  some  of  his  letters,  which  had  been  charged  and 
proved  upon  him  by  Mr.  Adams.  In  that  same  letter,  Mr.  Clay 
gives  his  explanation  of  some  of  the  transactions  at  Ghent,  re 
specting  which  he  thought  Mr.  Adams  was  mistaken.  The  pub 
lication  of  the  confidential  letters  superseded  tfye  necessity  of 
making  the  corrections  which  Mr.  Clay  had  intended.  In  this 
letter,  Mr.  Clay  in  no  instance  impugns  the  motives  of  Mr.  Adams, 
nor  does  it  contain  a  line  from  which  an  unfriendly  state  of  feel 
ing  on  the  part  of  the  writer  toward  Mr.*  Adams  could  be  in  - 
ferred. 

Such  was  Mr,  Clay's  pride  of  country  that  he  had  resolved  not 


VISITS    PARIS MADAME    DB    STAEL.  59 

to  go  to  England  until  he  had  heard  of  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty  of  Ghent.  After  the  termination  of  the  negotiations  he 
went  to  Paris,  and  accepted  the  invitation  of  Mr.  Crawford,  our 
minister,  to  take  apartments  in  his  hotel.  Mr.  Clay  remained  in 
Paris  during  upward  of  two  months.  On  the  night  of  his  .arrival 
in  that  brilliant  metropolis,  he  found  at  Mr.  Crawford's  an  invita 
tion  to  a  ball  given  by  the  American  banker,  Mr.  Hottinguer,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  pacification  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain.  There  he  met  for  the  first  time  the  celebrated 
Madame  de  Stael  —  was  introduced  to  her,  and  had  with  her  a 
long  and  animated  conversation. 

"  Ah !"  said  she,  "  Mr.  Clay,  I  have  been  in  England,  and 
have  been  battling  your  cause  for  you  there." — "  I  know  it,  ma- 
dame  ;  we  heard  of  your  powerful  interposition,  and  we  are 
grateful  and  thankful  for  it." — "  They  were  very  much  enraged 
against  you,"  said  she  :  "  so  much  so,  that  they  at  one  time 
thought  seriously  of  sending  the  duke  of  Wellington  to  command 
their  armies  against  you  !"  — "  I  am  very  sorry,  madame,"  replied 
Mr.  Clay,  "  that  they  did  not  send  his  grace." — "  Why  ?''  asked 
she,  surprised.  — "  Because,  madame,  if  he  had  beaten  us,  we 
should  have  been  in  the  condition  of  Europe,  without  disgrace. 
But,  if  we  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  defeat  him,  we  should 
have  greatly  added  to  the  renown  of  our  arms." 

The  next  time  he  met  Madame  de  Stael  was  at  a  party  at  her 
own  house,  which  was  attended  by  the  marshals  of  France,  the 
duke  of  Wellington,  and  other  distinguished  persons.  She  in 
troduced  Mr.  Clay  to  the  duke,  and  at  the  same  time  related  the 
above  anecdote.  He  replied  with  promptness  and  politeness, 
that  if  he  had  been  sent  on  that  service,  and  had  been  so  fortu 
nate  as  to  have  been  successful  over  a  foe  so  gallant  as  the 
Americans,  he  would  have  regarded  it  as  the  proudest  feather  in 
his  cap. 

During  his  stay  in  Paris,  Mr.  Clay  heard  of  the  issue  of  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans.  "  Now,"  said  he  to  his  informant,  "  I  can 
go  to  England  without  mortification."  But  he  expressed  himself 
greatly  mortified  at  the  inglorious  flight  attributed,  in  the  de 
spatches  of  the  American  general,  to  a  portion  of  the  Kentucky 
militia,  which  Mr.  Clay  pronounced  must  be  a  mistake. 


60  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Having  heard  of  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  Mr 
Clay  left  Paris  for  England  in  March,  1815,  just  before  the  ar 
rival  of  Bonaparte  in  the  French  capital.  He  thus  missed  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  great  Corsican.  He  would  have  re 
mained  in  Paris  for  the  purpose,  had  he  supposed  the  emperor 
would  arrive  so  soon.  It  was  about  this  time  that  Louis  XVIII. 
eft  Paris,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Ghent,  near  the  hotel 
which  the  American  commissioners  had  recently  occupied. 

On  his  arrival  in  England  before  any  of  the  other  American 
commissioners,  Mr.  Clay  had  an  interview  with  Lord  Castle- 
reagh,  who  contracted  for  him  a  high  esteem,  which  was  fre 
quently  manifested  during  his  sojourn  in  England.  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  offered  to  present  him  to  the  prince-regent.  Mr.  Clay 
said  he  would  go  through  the  ceremony,  if  it  were  deemed  ne 
cessary  or  respectful.  Lord  Castlereagh  said,  that,  having  been 
recognised  in  his  public  character  by  the  British  government,  it 
was  not  necessary,  and  that  he  might  omit  it  or  not,  as  he  pleased. 
Mr.  Clay's  repugnance  to  the  parade  of  courts  prevented  his  pres 
entation,  and  he  never  saw  the  prince.  He  met,  however,  with 
most  of  the  other  members  of  the  royal  family. 

A  few  days  after  his  interview  with  Lord  Castlereagh,  the 
keeper  of  the  house  at  which  Mr.  Clay  lodged,  announced  a  per 
son  who  wished  to  speak  with  him.  Mr.  Clay  directed  him  to 
be  admitted ;  and,  on  his  entrance,  he  perceived  an  individual, 
dressed  apparently  in  great  splendor,  come  forward,  whom  he 
took  to  be  a  peer  of  the  realm.  He  rose  and  asked  his  visiter  to 
be  seated,  but  the  latter  declined,  and  observed  that  he  was  the 
first  waiter  of  my  Lord  Castlereagh  !  "  The  first  waiter  of  my 
Lord  Castlereagh !"  exclaimed  Mr.  Clay;  "well,  what  is  your 
pleasure  with  me?" — "Why,  if  your  excellency  pleases,"  said 
the  man,  "  it  is  usual  for  a  foreign  minister,  when  presented  to 
Lord  Castlereagh,  to  make  to  his  first  waiter  a  present,  or  pay  him 
the  customary  stipend ;"  at  the  same  time  handing  to  Mr.  Clay 
a  long  list  of  names  of  foreign  ministers,  with  the  sum  which 
every  one  had  paid  affixed  to  his  name. 

Mr.  Clay  thinking  it  a  vile  extortion,  took  the  paper,  and, 
while  reading  it,  thought  how  he  should  repel  so  exceptionable 
a  demand.  He  returned  it  to  the  servant,  telling  him  that,  as  it 


HE    VISITS    ENGLAND.  61 

was  the  custom  of  the  country,  he  presumed  it  was  all  right ;  but 
that  he  was  not  the  minister  to  England ;  Mr.  Adams  was  the 
minister,  and  was  daily  expected  from  Paris,  and,  he  had  no 
doubt,  would  do  whatever  was  right.  "  But,"  said  the  servant, 
very  promptly,  "  if  your  excellency  pleases,  it  makes  no  differ 
ence  whether  the  minister  presented  be  the  resident  minister  or 
a  special  minister,  as  I  understand  your  excellency  to  be;  —  it  is 
always  paid."  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  come  to  England  to  argue 
with  the  master,  finding  himself  in  danger  of  being  beaten  in 
argument  by  the  man,  concluded  it  was  best  to  conform  to  the 
usage,  objectionable  as  he  thought  it ;  and,  looking  over  the 
paper  for  the  smallest  sum  paid  by  any  other  minister,  handed 
the  fellow  five  guineas,  and  dismissed  him. 

Mr.  Clay  was  in  London  when  the  battle  of  Waterloo  was 
fought,  and  witnessed  the  illuminations,  bonfires,  and  rejoicings, 
to  which  it  gave  rise.  For  a  day  or  two,  it  was  a  matter  of  great 
uncertainty  what  had  become  of  Napoleon.  During  this  interval 
of  anxious  suspense,  Mr.  Clay  dined  at  Lord  Castlereagh's  with 
the  American  ministers,  Messrs.  Adams  and  Gallatin,  and  the 
British  ministry.  Bonaparte's  flight  and  probable  place  of  refuge 
became  the  topics  of  conversation.  Among  other  conjectures,  it 
was  suggested  that  he  might  have  gone  to  the  United  States  ; 
and  Lord  Liverpool,  addressing  Mr.  Clay,  asked :  "  If  he  goes 
there,  will  he  not  give  you  a  good  deal  of  trouble  ?" — "  Not  the 
least,  my  lord,"  replied  Mr.  Clay,  with  his  habitual  promptitude 
—  "we  shall  be  very  glad  to  receive  him  ;  we  would  treat  him 
with  all  hospitality,  and  very  soon  make  of  him  a  good  democrat."11 

The  reply  produced  a  very  hearty  peal  of  laughter  from  the 
whole  company. 

Mr.  Clay  was  received  in  the  British  circles,  both  of  the  minis 
try  and  the  opposition,  with  the  most  friendly  consideration.  The 
late  Sir  James  Mackintosh  was  one  of  his  first  acquaintances  in 
London  ; — and  of  the  lamented  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  and  his  beau 
tiful  and  accomplished  lady,  Mr.  Clay  has  been  heard  to  remark, 
that  they  presented  one  of  the  most  beautiful  examples  of  a  hap 
py  man  and  wife  that  he  had  ever  seen.  He  passed  a  most 
agreeable  week  with  his  Ghent  friend,  Lord  Gambier,  at  Iver 
Grove,  near  Windsor  Castle.  Of  this  pious  and  excellent  noble- 


62  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

man,  Mr.  Clay  has  ever  retained  a  lively  and  friendly  recollec 
tion.  He  visited  with  him  Windsor  Castle,  Frogmore  Lodge, 
the  residence  of  the  descendant  of  William  Penn,  and  saw  the 
wife  of  George  III  and  some  of  the  daughters. 

In  September,  1815,  Mr.  Clay  returned  to  his  own  country, 
arriving  in  New  York,  which  port  he  had  left  in  March,  1814. 
A  public  dinner  was  given  to  him  and  Mr.  Gallatin,  soon  after 
their  disembarkation.  Everywhere,  on  his  route  homeward  to 
his  adopted  state,  he  was  received  with  continual  demonstrations 
of  public  gratitude  and  approbation.  In  Kentucky  he  was  hailed 
with  every  token  of  affection  and  respect.  The  board  of  trustees 
of  Lexington  waited  upon  him  and  presented  their  thanks  for  his 
eminent  services  in  behalf  of  his  country. 

On  the  seventh  of  October,  the  citizens  of  the  same  town  gave 
him  a  public  dinner.  In  reply  to  a  toast  complimentary  to  the 
American  negotiators,  he  made  some  brief  and  eloquent  remarks 
concerning  the  circumstances  under  which  the  treaty  had  been 
concluded,  and  the  general  condition  of  the  country,  both  at  the 
commencement  and  the  close  of  the  war.  At  the  same  festival, 
in  reply  to  a  toast  highly  complimentary  to  himself,  he  thanked 
the  company  for  their  kind  and  affectionate  attention.  His  re 
ception,  he  said,  had  been  more  like  that  of  a  brother  than  a 
common  friend  or  acquaintance,  and  he  was  utterly  incapable  of 
finding  words  to  express  his  gratitude.  He  compared  his  situa 
tion  to  that  of  a  Swedish  gentleman,  at  a  festival  in  England; 
given  by  the  Society  for  the  Relief  of  Foreigners  in  Distress. 
A  toast  having  been  given,  complimentary  to  his  country,  it  was 
expected  that  he  should  address  the  company  in  reply.  Not  un 
derstanding  the  English  language,  he  was  greatly  embarrassed, 
and  said  to  the  chairman :  "  Sir,  I  wish  you  and  this  society  to 
consider  me  a  foreigner  in  distress.'11  "  So,"  said  Mr.  Clay,  evi 
dently  much  affected,  "  I  wish  you  to  consider  me  a  friend  in 
distress." 

In  anticipation  of  his  return  home,  Mr.  Clay  had  been  unani  • 
mously  re-elected  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  district  he 
formerly  represented.  Doubts  arising  as  to  the  legality  of  this 
election,  a  new  one  was  ordered,  and  the  result  was  the  same. 

On  the  fourth  of  December,  1815,  the  fourteenth  Congress 


HIS    SPEECH    ON    THE    TREATY.  63 

met,  in  its  first  session.  Mr.  Clay  was  again  elected  speaker  of  the 
house  of  representatives,  almost  unanimously  —  receiving,  upon 
the  first  balloting,  eighty-seven  out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  votes  cast — thirteen  being  the  highest  number  given  for  any 
one  of  the  five  opposing  candidates.  He  was,  at  this  time,  just 
recovering  from  a  serious  indisposition,  but  accepted  the  office 
in  a  brief  and  appropriate  speech,  acknowledging  the  honor  con 
ferred  upon  him,  and  pledging  his  best  efforts  for  the  proper  dis 
charge  of  its  duties. 

Among  the  important  subjects  which  came  up,  that  of  the  new 
treaty  was,  of  course,  among  the  foremost.  John  Randolph  and 
the  federalists,  after  having  resisted  the  war,  now  took  frequent 
occasion  to  sneer  at  the  mode  of  its  termination.  On  the  29th 
of  January,  1816,  Mr.  Clay  addressed  the  committee  of  the  house 
most  eloquently  in  reply  to  these  cavilers. 

"  I  gave  a  vote,"  said  lie,  "  for  the  declaration  of  war.  I  exerted  all  the 
little  influence  and  talents  I  could  command  to  make  the  war.  The  war  was 
made.  It  is  terminated.  And  I  declare,  with  perfect  sincerity,  if  it  had 
been  permitted  to  me  to  lift  the  veil  of  futurity,  and  to  have  foreseen  the 
precise  series  of  events  which  has  occurred,  my  vote  would  have  been  un 
changed.  We  had  been  insulted,  and  outraged,  and  spoliated  upon  by  al 
most  all  Europe — by  Great  Britain,  by  France,  Spain,  Denmark,  Naples,  and, 
to  cap  the  climax,  by  the  little  contemptible  power  of  Algiers.  We  had  sub 
mitted  too  long  and  too  much.  We  had  become  the  scorn  of  foreign  powers, 
and  the  derision  of  our  own  citizens." 

It  had  been  objected  by  the  opposition,  that  no  provision  had 
been  made  in  the  treaty  in  regard  to  the  impressment  of  our  sea 
men  by  the  British.  On  this  subject,  Mr.  Clay  said — and  his 
argument  is  as  conclusive  as  it  is  lofty :  — 

"  One  of  the  great  causes  of  the  war,  and  of  its  continuance,  was  the  prac 
tice  of  impressment  exercised  by  Great  Britain — and  -if  this  claim  had  been 
admitted  by  necessary  implication  or  express  stipulation,  the  rights  of  our  sea 
men  would  have  been  abandoned  !  It  is  with  utter  astonishment  that  I  hear 
it  has  been  contended  in  this  country,  that  because  our  right  of  exemption 
from  the  practice  had  not  been  expressly  secured  in  the  treaty,  it  was,  there 
fore,  given  up  !  It  is  impossible  that  such  an  argument  can  be  advanced  on 
this  floor.  No  member,  who  regarded  his  reputation,  would  venture  to  ad 
vance  such  a  doctrine !" 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Clay  declared,  on  this  occasion,  that  his 
policy,  in  regard  to  the  attitude  in  which  the  country  should  now 
be  placed,  was  to  preserve  the  present  force,  naval  and  military  — 
to  provide  for  the  augmentation  of  the  navy — to  fortify  the  weak 


64  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

and  vulnerable    points    indicated   by  experience — to   construe 
military  roads  and  canals  —  and,  in  short,  "  TO  COMMENCE  THE 

GREAT  WORK  OF  INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT." 

"I  would  see,"  he  said,  "  a  chain  of  turnpike  roads  and  canals  from  Passa- 
maquoddy  to  New  Orleans ;  and  other  similar  roads  intersecting^  mountains, 
to  facilitate  intercourse  between  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  to  bind  and  con 
nect  us  together.  I  WOULD  ALSO  EFFECTUALLY  PROTECT  OUR  MANUFACTORIES.  I 
would  afford  them  protection,  not  so  much  for  the  sake  of  the  manufacturers 
themselves,  as  for  the  general  interest." 

It  was  in  this  patriotic  spirit,  and  impelled  by  this  far-sighted, 
liberal,  and  truly  American  policy,  that  Mr.  Clay  resumed  his  leg 
islative  labors  in  the  national  counsels.  He  has  lived  to  carry  out 
those  truly  great  and  statesman-like  measures  of  protection  and 
internal  improvement,  Avhich  even  then  began  to  gather  shape  and 
power  in  a  mind  ever  active  in  the  cause  of  his  country.  May  he 
live  to  receive  a  testimonial  of  that  country's  gratitude  and  admira 
tion,  in  the  bestowal  upon  him  of  the  highest  honor  in  her  gift ! 


V. 

THE    UNITED    STATES    BANK SOUTH    AMERICAN    INDEPENDENCE. 

THE  financial  condition  of  the  United  States,  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  was  extremely  depressed.  The  currency  was  deranged, 
public  credit  impaired,  and  a  heavy  debt  impending.  In  his  mes 
sage,  at.  the  opening  of  the  session  of  1815-'! 6,  President  Madi 
son  stated  the  condition  of  public  affairs,  and  indicated  the  estab 
lishment  of  a  national  bank,  and  of  a  protective  tariff,  as  the  two 
great  measures  of  relief. 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1816,  Mr.  Calhoun,  from  the  committee 
on  that  part  of  the  president's  message  relating  to  the  currency, 
reported  a  bill  to  incorporate  the  subscribers  to  a  Bank  of  the 
United  States. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Clay,  in  1811,  while  a  membe* 
of  the  senate,  had  opposed  the  rechartering  of  the  old  bank. 
His  reasons  for  now  advocating,  the  bill  before  the  house  have 
been  fully  and  freely  communicated  to  the  public. 


RECHARTER  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  BANK.        65 

When  the  application  was  made  to  renew  the  old  charter  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  such  an  institution  did  not  appear 
to  him  to  be  so  necessary  to  the  fulfilment  of  any  of  the  objects 
specifically  enumerated  in  the  constitution,  as  to  justify  C  /rgress 
in  assuming,  by  construction,  power  to  establish  it.  It  w  w  sup 
ported  mainly  upon  the  ground  that  it  was  indispensable  to  the 
treasury  operations.  But  the  local  institutions  in  the  several 
states,  were  at  that  time  in  prosperous  existence,  confide  i  in  by 
the  community,  having  confidence  in  one  another,  and  maintain 
ing  an  intercourse  and  connection  the  most  intimate.  Many  of 
them  were  actually  employed  by  the  treasury,  to  aid  that  depart 
ment  in  a  part  of  its  fiscal  arrangements  ;  and  they  appeared  to 
him  to  be  fully  capable  of  affording  to  it  all  the  facilities  that  i' 
ought  to  desire  in  all  of  them.  They  superseded,  in  his  judgment., 
the  necessity  of  a  national  institution. 

But  how  stood  the  case  in  1816,  when  he  was  called  upon, 
again  to  examine  the  power  of  the  general  government  to  incor 
porate  a  national  bank  ?  A  total  change  of  circumstances  was 
presented.  Events  of  the  utmost  magnitude  had  intervened.  A 
suspension  of  specie  payments  had  taken  place.  The  currency 
of  the  country  was  completely  vitiated.  The  government  issued 
paper  bearing  an  interest  of  six  per  cent.,  which  it  pledged  the 
faith  of  the  country  to  redeem.  For  this  paper,  guarantied  by 
the  honor  and  faith  of  the  government,  there  was  obtained  for 
every  one  hundred  dollars,  eighty  dollars  from  those  banks  which 
suspended  specie  payments.  The  experience  of  the  war,  there 
fore,  showed  the  necessity  of  a  bank.  The  country  could  not 
get  along  without  it.  Mr.  Clay  had  then  changed  his  opinion  on 
the  subject,  and  he  had  never  attempted  to  disguise  the  fact.  In 
his  position  as  speaker  of  the  house,  he  might  have  locked  up  his 
opinion  in  his  own  breast.  But  with  that  candor  and  fearlessness 
which  have  ever  distinguished  him,  he  had  come  forward,  as 
honest  men  ought  to  come  forward,  and  expressed  his  change  of 
opinion,  at  the  time  when  President  Madison,  and  other  eminent 
men,  changed  their  course  in  relation  to  the  bank. 

The  constitution  confers  on  Congress  the  power  to  com  money 
and  to  regulate  the  value  of  foreign  coins  :  and  the  states  are  for 
bidden  to  coin  money,  to  emit  bills  of  credit,  or  to  make  anything 

5 


66  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

but  gold  or  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts.  The  plain 
inference  was,  that  the  subject  of  the  general  currency  was  in 
tended  to  be  submitted  exclusively  to  the  general  government. 
In  point  of  fact,  however,  the  regulation  of  the  general  currency 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  state  governments,  or,  what  was  the  same 
thing,  of  the  banks  created  by  them.  Their  paper  had  every 
quality  of  money,  except  that  of  being  made  a  tender,  and  even 
this  was  imparted  to  it  by  some  states,  in  the  law  by  which  a 
creditor  must  receive  it,  or  submit  to  a  ruinous  suspension  of  the 
payment  of  his  debt. 

It  was  incumbent  upon  Congress  to  recover  the  control  which 
it  had  lost  over  the  general  currency.  The  remedy  called  for 
was  one  of  caution  and  moderation,  but  of  firmness.  Whether  a 
remedy,  directly  acting  upon  the  banks  and  their  paper  thrown 
into  circulation,  was  in  the  power  of  the  general  government  or 
not,  neither  Congress  nor  the  community  were  prepared  for  the 
application  of  such  a  remedy. 

An  indirect  remedy  of  a  milder  character,  seemed  to  be  fur 
nished  by  a  national  bank.  Going  into  operation  with  the  power 
ful  aid  of  the  treasury  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Clay  believed  it 
would  be  highly  instrumental  in  the  renewal  of  specie  payments. 
Coupled  with  the  other  measure  adopted  by  Congress  for  that 
object,  he  believed  the  remedy  effectual.  The  local  banks  must 
follow  the  example  which  the  national  bank  would  set  them,  of 
redeeming  their  notes  by  the  payment  of  specie,  or  their  notes 
would  be  discredited  and  put  down. 

If  the  constitution,  then,  warranted  the  establishment  of  a  bank, 
other  considerations,  besides  those  already  mentioned,  strongly 
urged  it.  The  want  of  a  general  medium  was  everywhere  felt. 
Exchange  varied  continually,  not  only  between  different  parts  of 
the  union,  but  between  different  parts  of  the  same  city.  If  the 
paper  of  a  national  bank  were  not  redeemed  in  specie,  it  would 
be  much  better  than  the  current  paper,  since  though  its  value,  in 
comparison  with  specie,  might  fluctuate,  it  would  afford  a  uniform 
standard. 

During  this  discussion  of  1816,  on  the  bank  charter,  a  collision 
arose  between  Messrs.  Clay  and  Randolph,  which  produced  great 
sensation  for  the  moment,  and  which,  it  was  apprehended,  might 


RECHARTER  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  PANK.        67 

lead  to  serious  consequences.  Although  Mr.  Clay  had  changed 
his  own  opinion  in  regard  to  a  bank,  he  did  not  feel  authorized  to 
seek,  in  private  intercourse,  to  influence  that  of  others,  and  ob 
served  a  silence  and  reserve  not  usual  to  him,  on  the  subject. 
Mr.  Randolph  commented  on  this  fact,  and  used  language  which 
might  bear  an  offensive  interpretation.  When  he  was  done,  Mr. 
Clay  rose  with  perfect  coolness,  but  evidently  with  a  firm  deter 
mination,  and  adverting  to  the  offensive  language,  observed  that 
it  required  explanation,  and  that  he  should  forbear  saying  what  it 
became  him  to  say,  until  he  heard  the  explanation,  if  any,  which 
the  member  from  Virginia  had  to  make.  He  sat  down.  Mr. 
Randolph  rose  and  made  an  explanation.  Mr.  Clay  again  rose, 
and  said  that  the  explanation  was  not  satisfactory.  Whereupon 
Mr.  R.  again  got  up,  and  disclaimed  expressly  all  intentional 
offence. 

During  the  transaction  of  this  scene,  the  most  intense  anxiety 
and  the  most  perfect  stillness  pervaded  the  house.  You  might 
have  heard  a  pin  fall  in  any  part  of  it. 

The  bill  to  recharter  the  bank,  was  discussed  for  several  weeks 
in  the  house.  The  vote  was  taken,  on  its  third  reading,  on  the 
14th  of  March,  1816,  when  it  was  passed  :  80  ayes  to  71  nays  : 
and  was  sent  to  the  senate  for  concurrence.  On  the  2d  of  April, 
after  the  bill  reported  by  the  financial  committee  had  received  a 
full  and  thorough  discussion,  it  was  finally  passed  in  that  body, 
by  a  vote  of  22  to  12 — two  members  only  being  absent.  The 
amendments  of  the  senate  were  speedily  adopted  by  the  house, 
and  on  the  10th  of  April,  the  bill  became  a  law,  by  the  signature 
of  the  president.  The  wisdom  of  the  supporters  of  the  measure 
was  soon  made  manifest  in  the  fact  that  the  institution  more  than 
realized  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  its  friends.  During  the 
period  of  its  existence,  the  United  States  enjoyed  a  currency  of 
unexampled  purity  and  uniformity  ;  and  the  bills  of  the  bank  were 
as  acceptable  as  silver  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  In  another 
part  of  this  memoir,  will  be  found  an  outline  of  such  a  fiscal  in 
stitution  as  Mr.  Clay  would  be  in  favor  of,  whenever  the  majority 
of  l\e  people  of  the  United  States  might  demand  the  establishment 
of  a  national  bank. 

On  the  6th  of  March,  1816,  Col.  Richard  M.  Johnson,  from  a 


68  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

committee  appointed  for  the  purpose,  reported  a  bill  changing  the 
mode  of  compensation  to  members  of  Congress.  The  pay  of 
members,  at  that  time,  was  six  dollars  a  day — an  amount  which, 
from  its  inadequacy,  threatened  to  place  the  legislation  of  the 
country  in  the  hands  of  the  wealthy.  The  new  bill  gave  mem 
bers  a  salary  of  fifteeen  hundred  dollars  a  year — to  the  presiding 
officer  twice  that  amount.  It  passed  both  houses  without  oppo 
sition.  Mr.  Clay  preferred  the  increase  of  the  daily  compensa 
tion  to  the  institution  of  a  salary,  but  the  majority  were  against 
him,  and  he  acquiesced  in  their  decision. 

He  never  canvassed  for  a  seat  in  the  house  of  representatives 
but  on  one  occasion,  and  that  was  after  the  passage  of  this  un 
palatable  bill.  It  produced  very  great  dissatisfaction  throughout 
the  United  States,  and  extended  to  the  district  which  he  repre 
sented.  Mr.  Pope,  a  gentleman  of  great  abilities,  was  his  com 
petitor.  They  had  several  skirmishes  at  popular  meetings,  with 
various  success  ;  but  having  agreed  upon  a  general  action,  they 
met  at  Higbie,  a  central  place,  and  convenient  of  access  to  the 
three  counties  composing  the  district.  A  vast  multitude  assem 
bled  ;  and  the  rival  candidates  occupied  in  their  addresses  the 
greater  part  of  the  day. 

Instead  of  confining  himself  to  a  defence  of  the  compensation 
bill,  which  he  never  heartily  approved  in  the  form  of  an  annual 
salary  to  members  of  Congress,  Mr.  Clay  carried  the  war  into 
the  enemy's  country.  He  attacked  Mr.  Pope's  vote  against  the 
declaration  of  war  with  Great  Britain,  dwelt  on  the  wrongs  and 
injuries  which  that  power  had  inflicted  on  the  United  States, 
pointed  out  his  inconsistency  in  opposing  the  war  upon  the 
ground  of  a  want  of  preparation  to  prosecute  it,  and  yet  having 
been  willing  to  declare  Avar  against  both  France  and  Great  Britain. 
Thus  he  put  his  competitor  on  the  defensive.  The  effect  of 
the  discussion  was  powerful  and  triumphant  on  the  side  of  Mi. 
Clay.  From  that  day  his  success  was  no  longer  doubtful,  and . 
accordingly,  at  the  election,  which  shortly  after  ensued,  he  was 
chosen  by  a  majority  of  six  or  seven  hilndred  votes. 

During  the  canvass,  Mr.  Clay  encountered  an  old  hunter, 
who  had  always  before  been  his  warm  friend,  but  now  was 
opposed  to  his  election  on  account  of  the  compensation  bill. 


THE    OLD    HUNTER   AND    HIS    RIFLE.  69 

"  Have  you  a  good  rifle,  my  friend  ?"  asked  Mr.  Clay. — "  Yes." 
"  Does  it  ever  flash  !" — "  Once  only,"  he  replied. — "  What  did 
you  do  with  it — throw  it  away  ?" — "  No,  I  picked  the  flint,  tried 
it  again,  and  brought  down  the  game," — "  Have  I  ever  flashed 
but  upon  the  compensation  bill  ?" — "  No." — "  Will  you  throw  me 
away  ?" — "  No,  no  !"  exclaimed  the  hunter,  with  enthusiasm, 
nearly  overpowered  by  his  feelings  ;  "  I  will  pick  the  flint,  and 
try  you  again  !"  He  was  afterward  a  warm  supporter  of  Mr.  Clay. 

This  anecdote  reminds  us  of  another,  which  is  illustrative  of 
that  trait  of  boldness  and  self-possession,  in  the  manifestation 
of  which  Mr.  Clay  has  never  been  known  to  fail  during  his  public 
career.  At  the  time  that  he  was  a  candidate  for  election  to  the 
legislature  of  Kentucky,  in  1803,  while  passing  a  few  weeks  at 
the  Olympian  springs,  a  number  of  huntsmen,  old  and  young, 
assembled  to  hear  him  make  a  "  stump  speech."  When  he  had 
finished,  one  of  the  audience,  an  ancient  Nimrod,  who  had  stood 
leaning  upon  his  rifle  for  some  time,  regarding  the  young  orator 
with  keen  attention,  commenced  a  conversation  with  him. 

"  Young  man,"  said  he,  "  you  want  to  go  to  the  legislature,  I 
see  ?" 

"  Why,  yes,"  replied  Mr.  Clay,  "  since  I  have  consented  to  be 
a  candidate,  I  would  prefer  not  to  be  defeated." 

"  Are  you  a  good  shot  ?" 

"  Try  me." 

"  Very  well ;  I  would  like  to  see  a  specimen  of  your  qualifi 
cations  for  the  legislature.  Come  :  we  must  see  you  shoot." 

"  But  I  have  no  rifle  here." 

"  No  matter :  here  is  old  Bess ;  and  she  never  fails  in  the 
hands  of  a  marksman  ;  she  has  often  sent  death  through  a  squir 
rel's  head  at  one  hundred  yards,  and  daylight  through  many  a  red 
skin  twice  that  distance  ;  if  you  can  shoot  with  any  gun,  you  can 
shoot  with  old  Bess." 

"  Well,  well :  put  up  your  mark,  put  up  your  mark,"  said  Mr. 
Clay. 

The  target  was  placed  at  the  distance  of  about  eighty  yards, 
when,  with  all  the  coolness  and  steadiness  of  an  experienced 
marksman,  he  lifted  "  old  Bess"  to  his  shoulder,  fired,  and  pierced 
the  very  centre  of  the  target. 


70  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"  Oh,  a  chance  shot !  a  chance  shot !"  exclaimed  several  of  his 
political  opponents.  "He  might  shoot  all  day,  and  not  hit  the 
mark  again.  Let  him  try  it  over — let  him  try  it  over." 

"  No  ;  beat  that,  and  then  I  will,"  retorted  Mr.  Clay.  But  as 
no  one  seemed  disposed  to  make  the  attempt,  it  was  considered 
that  he  had  given  satisfactory  proof  of  his  superiority  as  a  marks 
man  ;  and  this  felicitous  accident  gained  him  the  vote  of  every 
hunter  in  the  assembly.  The  most  remarkable  feature  in  the 
transaction  remains  to  be  told.  "  I  had  never,"  said  Mr.  Clay, 
"  fired  a  rifle  before,  and  never  have  since."  It  is  needless  to 
add  that  the  election  resulted  in  his  favor. 

An  Irish  barber,  residing  in  Lexington,  had  supported  Mr. 
Clay  with  great  zeal  at  all  elections,  when  he  was  a  candidate, 
prior  to  the  passage  of  the  compensation  bill.  The  fellow's  un 
restrained  passions  had  frequently  involved  him  in  scrapes  and 
difficulties,  on  which  occasions  Mr.  Clay  generally  defended  him 
and  got  him  out  of  them.  During  the  canvass,  after  the  com 
pensation  bill,  the  barber  was  very  reserved,  took  no  part  in  the 
election,  and  seemed  indifferent  to  its  fate.  He  was  often  im 
portuned  to  state  for  whom  he  meant  to  vote,  but  declined.  At 
length,  a  few  days  before  the  election,  he  was  addressed  by  Dr. 
W ,  a  gentleman  for  whom  he  entertained  the  highest  re 
spect,  and  pressed  to  say  to  whom  he  meant  to  give  his  suffrage. 
Looking  at  the  inquirer  with  great  earnestness  and  shrewdness, 
he  said  :  "  I  tell  you  what,  docthur,  I  mane  to  vote  for  the  man 
that  can  put  but  one  hand  into  the  treasury."  Mr.  Pope  had  the 
misfortune  to  lose,  in  early  life,  one  of  his  arms,  and  here  lay  the 
point  of  the  Irishman's  reply. 

It-  is  due  to  the  memory  of  Jeremiah  Murphy,  the  barber,  to 
state  that  he  repented  of  his  ingratitude  to  Mr.  Clay,  whom  he 
met  one  day  in  the  streets  of  Lexington,  and,  accosting  him, 
burst  into  tears,  and  told  him  that  he  had  wronged  him  ;  and  that 
his  poor  wife  had  got  round  him,  crying  and  reproaching  him  for 
his  conduct,  saying  :  "  Don't  you  remember,  Jerry,  when  you 
were  in  jail,  Mr.  Clay  came  to  you,  and  made  that  beast,  William 
B ,  the  jailer,  let  you  out?" 

Having  found  that  the  sentiments  of  his  constituents  were  de 
cidedly  opposed  to  the  compensation  bill,  Mr.  Clay,  at  the  ensuing 


INTERNAL    IMPROVEMENTS.  71 

session,  voted  for  its  repeal.  A  daily  allowance  of  eight  dollars 
to  every  member,  was  substituted  for  the  salary  of  fifteen  hundred 
dollars. 

During  the  month  of  February,  a  bill  was  introduced,  setting 
apart  and  pledging  as  a  fund  fo*  internal  improvement,  the  bonus 
of  the  United  States'  share  of  the  dividends  of  the  national  bank. 
As  may  be  presumed,  this  measure  received  the  hearty  support 
of  Mr.  Clay.  Without  entering  at  length  into  a  discussion  of 
the  subject,  he  expressed  a  wish  only  to  say  that  he  "  Had  long 
thought  there  were  no  two  subjects  which  could  engage  the  atten 
tion  of  the  national  legislature,  more  worthy  of  its  deliberate  con 
sideration,  than  those  of  internal  improvement  and  domestic 
manufactures."  For  constitutional  reasons,  President  Madison 
withheld  his  signature  from  this  bill,  much  to  the  surprise  of  his 
friends. 

During  the  administration  of  Mr.  Madison,  Mr.  Clay  was,  on 
two  separate  occasions,  offered  a  seat  in  his  cabinet,  or  the  mis 
sion  to  Russia,  by  that  distinguished  chief  magistrate.  He 
declined  them  both.  Mr.  Madison  appears  to  have  had  the 
highest  estimate  of  his  talents  and  worth.  Indeed,  so  impressed 
was  he  with  the  eminent  and  versatile  abilities  of  Mr.  Clay,  that 
he  had  selected  him,  at  the  commencement  of  the  war,  to  be  com 
mander -in-chief  of  the  army.  The  nomination  was  not  made, 
solely  because  Mr.  Clay  could  not  be  spared  from  Congress, 
where  his  powerful  mind  and  paramount  influence,  enabled  him 
to  render  services  superior  to  any  that  could  have  been  rendered 
in  any  other  position. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1817,  James  Monroe  took  the  oath  pre 
scribed  by  the  constitution,  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the 
presidency  of  the  United  States.  The  first  session  of  the  fifteenth 
Congress  commenced  the  ensuing  December.  Mr.  Clay  was 
again  chosen  speaker. 

It  would  be  impossible,  in  the  brief  space  we  have  allotted  to 
ourselves,  to  present  even  a  brief  abstract  of  his  remarks  upon 
the  many  important  topics  which  now  claimed  the  attention  of 
Congress.  We  must  content  ourselves  with  a  succinct  account 
of  the  leading  measures  with  which  his  name  and  his  fame  have 
bacome  identified. 


72  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

In  his  speech  on  the  state  of  the  union,  in  January,  in  1816 
he  had  expressed  his  sympathies  in  behalf  of  the  South  American 
colonists,  who  were  then  struggling  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the 
mother-country.  The  supreme  Congress  of  the  Mexican  republic 
afterward  voted  him  their  thanks  "  for  the  disinterested,  manly, 
and  generous  sentiments  he  expressed  on  the  floor  of  the  house, 
for  the  welfare  of  the  infant  republic." 

In  the  debate  on  the  proposition  to  reduce  the  direct  taxation 
of  the  country,  he  had  alluded  to  the  existing  peaceful  condition 
of  the  United  States,  and  had  hinted  the  possibility  of  hostilities 
with  Spain.  He  had  heard  that  the  minister  of  that  nation  had  de 
manded  the  surrender  of  a  portion  of  our  soil — that  part  of 
Florida  lying  west  of  the  Perdido.  Without  speaking  of  it  as  it  de 
served —  of  the  impudence  of  such  a  demand — he  alluded  to  it 
as  indicative  of  the  disposition  of  the  Spanish  government. 
"  Besides,"  said  he,  "  who  can  tell  with  certainty  how  far  it  may 
be  proper  to  aid  the  people  of  South  America  in  the  establish 
ment  of  their  independence  ?"  The  subject,  he  avowed,  had  made 
a  deep  impression  on  his  mind ;  and  he  was  not  in  favor  of  ex 
hausting,  by  direct  taxes,  the  country  of  those  funds  which  might 
be  needed  to  vindicate  its  rights  at  home,  or,  if  necessary,  to  aid 
the  cause  of  liberty  in  South  America. 

These  remarks  aroused  all  the  spleen  of  Mr.  Randolph.  "  As 
for  South  America,"  said  he,  in  his  reply  to  Mr.  Clay,  "  I  am 
not  going  a-tilting  for  the  liberties  of  her  people  ;  they  came  not 
to  our  aid  ;  let  us  mind  our  own  business,  and  not  tax  our  people 
for  the  liberties  of  the  people  of  Spanish  America.''  He  went 
on  to  ridicule  the  notion  that  the  people  of  Caraccas  and  Mexico 
were  capable  either  of  enjoying  or  of  understanding  liberty,  and 
insinuated  that  Mr.  Clay  was  influenced  by  a  desire  of  conquest. 
"  The  honorable  gentleman,"  he  said,  "  had  been  sent,  on  a  late 
occasion,  to  Europe  ;  he  had  been  near  the  field  of  Waterloo, 
and,  he  feared,  had  snuffed  the  carnage  and  caught  the  infection." 
"  What !"  said  he,  "  increase  our  standing  army  in  time  of  peace, 
on  the  suggestion  that  we  are  to  go  on  a  crusade  to  South  Amer 
ica  ?"  Mr.  Clay  intimated  that  he  had  advocated  no  such  meas 
ure.  "  Do  I  not  understand  the  gentleman  ?"  said  Mr.  Randolph  , 
"  I  am  sorry  I  do  not ;  I  labor  under  two  great  misfortunes — one 


SOUTH    AMERICAN    INDEPENDENCE.  73 

is  that  I  can  never  understand  the  honorable  speaker — the  other 
is  that  he  can  never  understand  me  :  on  such  terms,  an  argument 
can  never  be  maintained  between  us,  and  1  shall,  therefore,  put 
an  end  to  it."  Mr.  Clay  simply  expressed  his  surprise  that  Mr. 
R.  could  so  have  misunderstood  his  remarks,  and  deferred  the 
general  argument  to  another  occasion. 

Soon  after,  on  a  proposition  to  "  prevent  our  citizens  from  sel 
ling  vessels-of-war  to  a  foreign  power,"  Mr.  Clay  opposed  the 
bill,  on  account  of  its  evident  bearing  upon  the  question  of  South 
American  independence  ;  it  would  everywhere  be  understood  as 
a  law  framed  expressly  to  prevent  the  offer  of  the  slightest  aid 
to  those  republics  by  our  citizens.  "  With  respect  to  the  nature 
of  their  struggle,"  he  said,  "  I  have  not  now,  for  the  first  time,  to 
express  my  opinion  and  wishes.  I  wish  them  independence.  It 
is  the  first  step  toward  improving  their  condition." 

During  the  summer  of  1816,  the  president  had  appointed 
Messrs.  Rodney,  Graham,  and  Bland,  commissioners  to  proceed 
to  South  America,  to  ascertain  the  condition  of  the  country.  In 
March,  1818,  the  appropriation  bill  being  before  the  house,  Mr. 
Clay  objected  to  the  clause  appropriating  $30,000  for  their  com 
pensation,  as  unconstitutional.  He  then  offered  an  amendment^ 
appropriating  eighteen  thousand  dollars  as  the  outfit  and  one 
year's  salary  of  a  minister,  to  be  deputed  from  the  United  States 
to  the  independent  provinces  of  the  River  La  Plata,  in  South 
America.  The  amendment  was  lost ;  but  Mr.  Clay's  speech  in 
support  of  it  was  one  of  his  most  memorable  efforts.  Both  Con 
gress  and  the  president  were  opposed  to  any  recognition  of  the 
independence  of  the  South  American  colonists.  In  rising  to  pro 
mulgate  views  hostile  to  theirs,  Mr.  Clay  said  that,  much  as  he 
valued  those  friends,  in  and  out  of  the  house,  from  whom  he 
differed,  he  could  not  hesitate  when  reduced  to  the  distressing 
alternative  of  conforming  his  judgment  to  theirs,  or  pursuing  the 
deliberate  and  matured  dictates  of  his  own  mind. 

He  maintained  that  an  oppressed  people  were  authorized, 
whenever  they  could,  to  rise  and  break  their  fetters.  This  was 
the  great  principle  of  the  English  revolution.  It  was  the  great 
principle  of  our  own.  Vattel,  if  authority  were  wanting,  ex 
pressly  supports  this  right. 


74  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Mr.  Clay  said  he  was  no  propagandist.  He  would  not  seek 
to  force  upon  other  nations  our  principles  and  our  liberty,  if  they 
did  not  want  them.  He  would  not  disturb  the  repose  even  of  a 
detestable  despotism.  But,  if  an  abused  and  oppressed  people 
willed  their  freedom  ;  if  they  sought  to  establish  it ;  if,  in  truth, 
th.3y  had  established  it,  we  had  a  right,  as  a  sovereign  power,  to 
notice  the  fact,  and  to  act  as  circumstances  and  our  interest  re 
quired. 

The  opposition  had  argued  that  the  people  of  Spanish  America 
were  too  ignorant  and  superstitious  to  appreciate  and  conduct  an 
independent  and  free  system  of  government.  We  believe  it  is 
Macaulay,  who  says  of  this  plea  of  ignorance  as  an  argument 
against  emancipation,  that  with  just  as  much  propriety  might  you 
argue  against  a  person's  going  into  the  water  until  he  knew  how 
to  swim.  Mr.  Clay  denied  the  alleged  fact  of  the  ignorance  of 
the  colonists. 

With  regard  to  their  superstition,  he  said :  "  They  worship 
the  same  God  with  us.  Their  prayers  are  offered  up  in  their 
temples  to  the  same  Redeemer,  whose  intercession  we  expect 
to  save  us.  Nor  is  there  anything  in  the  Catholic  religion  unfa 
vorable  to  freedom.  All  religions  united  with  government  are 
more  or  less  inimical  to  liberty.  All  separated  from  government 
are  compatible  with  liberty." 

Having  shown  that  the  cause  of  the  South  American  patriots 
was  just,  Mr.  Clay  proceeded  to  inquire  what  course  of  policy  it 
Decame  us  to  adopt.  He  maintained  that  a  recognition  of  their 
independence  was  compatible  with  perfect  neutrality  and  with 
the  most  pacific  relations  toward  old  Spain.  Recognition  alone, 
without  aid,  was  no  just  cause  of  war.  With  aid,  it  was ;  not 
because  of  the  recognition,  but  because  of  the  aid ;  as  aid,  with 
out  recognition,  was  cause  of  war. 

After  demonstrating  that  the  United  States  were  bound,  on 
their  own  principles,  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  the 
United  Provinces  of  the  river  Plate,  he  alluded  to  the  improbabil 
ity  that  any  of  the  European  monarchies  would  set  the  example 
of  recognition.  "  Are  we  not  bound,"  he  asked,  "  upor  our  own 
principles,  to  acknowledge  this  new  republic  ?  If  WE  do  not, 
who  will  ?" 


SOUTH    AMERICAN    INDEPENDENCE. 


75 


The  simple  words,  "  who  will  ?"  are  said,  by  an  intelligent  ob 
server,  who  was  present,  to  have  been  uttered  in  a  tone  of  such 
thrilling  pathos,  as  to  stir  up  the  deepest  sensibilities  of  the  audi 
ence.  It  is  by  such  apparent  simple  appeals  that  Mr.  Clay,  with 
the  aid  of  his  exquisitely  modulated  voice,  often  produces  the 
most  powerful  and  lasting  effects. 

We  shall  not  attempt  to  present  a  summary  of  this  magnificent 
address.  "  No  abstract,"  says  one  who  heard  it,  "  can  furnish 
an  adequate  idea  of  a  speech,  which,  as  an  example  of  argumen 
tative  oratory,  may  be  safely  tried  by  the  test  of  the  most  ap 
proved  models  of  any  age  or  country.  Rich  in  all  the  learning 
connected  with  the  subject ;  methodized  in  an  order  which  kept 
that  subject  constantly  before  the  hearer,  and  enabled  the  mean 
est  capacity  to  follow  the  speaker  without  effort,  through  a  long 
series  of  topics,  principal  and  subsidiary ;  at  once  breathing  sen 
timents  of  generous  philanthropy  and  teaching  lessons  of  wis 
dom  ;  presenting  a  variety  of  illustrations  which  strengthened 
the  doctrines  that  they  embellished ;  and  uttering  prophecies,  on 
which,  though  rejected  by  the  infidelity  of  the  day,  time  has 
stamped  the  seal  of  truth  :  this,  speech  will  descend  to  the  latest 
posterity  and  remain  embalmed  in  the  praises  of  mankind,  long 
after  tumults  of  military  ambition  and  the  plots  of  political  profli 
gacy  have  passed  into  oblivion." 

After  repeated  efforts  and  repeated  failures  to  carry  his  gen 
erous  measures  in  behalf  of  South  American  liberty,  Mr.  Clay, 
on  the  tenth  of  February,  1821,  submitted  for  consideration  a 
resolution  declaring  that  the  house  of  representatives  partici 
pated  with  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  the  deep  interest 
which  they  felt  for  the  success  of  the  Spanish  provinces  of  South 
America,  which  were  struggling  to  establish  their  liberty  and  in 
dependence  ;  and  that  it  would  give  its  constitutional  support  to 
the  president  of  the  United  States,  whenever  he  might  deem  it 
expedient  to  recognise  the  sovereignty  and  independence  of  those 
provinces. 

On  this  resolution  a  debate  of  nearly  four  hours  ensued,  in 
which  Mr.  Clay  sustained  the  principal  part.  Only  twelve  mem 
bers  vot6d  against  the  first  clause  of  it ;  and  on  the  second,  the 
votes  were  eighty-seven  for,  and  sixty-eight  against  it.  The 


76  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

question  was  then  taken  on  the  resolution  as  a  whole,  and  car 
ried  in  the  affirmative  ;  and  Mr.  Clay  immediately  moved  that  a 
committee  of  two  members  should  be  appointed,  to  present  it  to 
President  Monroe.  Although  such  a  course  was  not  very  usual, 
a  committee  was  accordingly  ordered,  and  Mr.  Clay  was  ap 
pointed  its  chairman.  It  was  a  great  triumph.  He  had  been 
long  and  ardently  engaged  in  the  cause,  and,  during  a  greater 
part  of  the  time,  opposed  by  the  whole  weight  of  Mr.  Monroe's 
administration.  And  when  he  was  appointed  chairman  of  the 
committee,  to  present  the  resolution,  Mr.  Monroe's  friends  re 
garded  it  as  a  personal  insult,  and  Mr.  Nelson,  of  Virginia,  one 
of  the  warmest  of  them,  retired  from  the  capitol,  after  the  ad 
journment  of  the  house,  denouncing  the  act  in  the  loudest  tones 
of  his  remarkable  voice,  on  his  way  down  Pennsylvania  avenue, 
as  an  unprecedented  indignity  to  the  chief  magistrate. 

On  the  8th  day  of  March,  1822,  the  president  sent  a  message 
to  the  house  of  representatives,  recommending  the  recognition 
of  South  American  independence.  The  recommendation  was 
referred  to  the  committee  on  foreign  relations,  which,  on  the  19th 
of  the  same  month,  reported  in  favor  of  the  recommendation,  and 
of  an  appropriation  to  carry  it  into  effect.  The  vote  of  recogni 
tion  was  finally  passed  on  the  28th,  with  but  a  single  dissenting 
voice. 

Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  Mr.  Clay's  magnanimous  efforts  in 
behalf  of  South  American  independence.'  His  zeal  in  the  cause 
was  unalloyed  by  one  selfish  impulse,  or  one  personal  aim.  He 
could  hope  to  gain  no  political  capital  by  his  course.  He  ap 
pealed  to  no  sectional  interest ;  sustained  no  party  policy ;  labor 
ed  for  no  wealthy  client ;  secured  the  influence  of  no  man,  or 
set  of  men,  in  his  championship  of  a  remote,  unfriended,  and 
powerless  people.  Congress  and  the  president  were  vehemently 
opposed  to  his  proposition.  But  in  the  face  of  discomfiture,  he 
persevered,  till  he  succeeded  in  making  converts  of  his  oppo 
nents,  and  in  effecting  the  triumph  of  his  measure.  Almost  sin 
gle-handed,  he  sustained  it  through  discouragement  and  hostility 
till  it  was  crowned  with  success. 

The  effect  of  his  spirit-stirring  appeals  in  cheering  the  patriots 
of  South  America,  was  most  gratifying  and  decided.  His  mem 


CORRESPONDENCE    WITH    BOLIVAR.  77 

orable  plea  of  March,  1818,  was,  as  one  of  his  most  embittered 
adversaries  has  told  us,  read  at  the  head  of  the  South  American 
armies,  to  exalt  the.r  enthusiasm  in  battle,  and  quicken  the  con 
summation  of  their  triumphs. 

The  following  letter  from  Bolivar,  with  Mr.  Clay's  reply,  be 
longs  to  this  period  of  his  history  : — 

"BOGOTA,  2lst  November,  1827. 

"  Sni :  I  can  not  omit  availing  myself  of  the  opportunity  offered  me  bv  the 
departure  of  Col.  "Watts,  charge  d'affaires  of  the  United  States,  of  taking  the 
liberty  of  addressing  your  excellency.  This  desire  has  long  been  entertained 
by  me  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  my  admiration  of  your  excellency's  bril 
liant  talents  and  ardent  love  of  liberty.  All  America,  Colombia,  and  my 
self,  owe  your  excellency  our  purest  gratitude  for  the  incomparable  services 
you  have  rendered  to  us,  by  sustaining  our  course  with  a  sublime  enthusiasm. 
Accept,  therefore,  this  sincere  and  cordial  testimony  which  I  hasten  to  offer 
to  your  excellency,  and  to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  who  have 
so  greatly  contributed  to  the  emancipation  of  your  southern  brethren. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  offer  to  your  excellency  my  distinguished  consider 
ation. 

"  Your  excellency's  obedient  servant, 

"BOLIYAE." 

The  following  is  a  characteristic  extract  from  Mr.  Clay's  re- 

pty:— 

""WASHINGTON,  Nth  October,  1828. 

"SiR:  It  is  very  gratifying  to  me  to  be  assured  directly  by  your  excel 
lency,  that  the  course  which  the  government  of  the  United  States  took  on 
this  memorable  occasion,  and  my  humble  efforts,  have  excited  the  gratitude 
and  commanded  the  approbation  of  your  excellency.  I  am  persuaded  that 
I  do  not  misinterpret  the  feelings  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  as  I 
certainly  express  my  own,  in  saying,  that  the  interest  which  was  inspired 
in  this  country  by  the  arduous  struggles  of  South  America,  arose  principally 
from  the  hope,  that,  along  with  its  independence,  would  be  established  free  in 
stitutions,  insuring  all  the  blessings  of  civil  liberty.  To  the  accomplishment 
of  that  object  we  still  anxiously  look.  We  are  aware  that  great  difficulties 
oppose  it,  among  which,  not  the  least  is  that  which  arises  out  of  the  exist 
ence  of  a  large  military  force,  raised  for  the  purpose  of  resisting  the  power 
of  Spain.  Standing  armies,  organized  with  the  most  patriotic  intentions, 
are  dangerous  instruments.  They  devour  the  substance,  debauch  the  morals, 
and  too  often  destroy  the  liberties  of  the  people.  Nothing  can  be  more 
perilous  or  unwise  than  to  retain  them  after  the  necessity  has  ceased  which 
led  to  their  formation,  especially  if  their  numbers  are  disproportionate  to 
the  revenues  of  the  state. 

"But,  notwithstanding  all  these  difficulties,  we  had  fondly  cherished,  and 
still  indulge  the  hope,  that  South  America  would  add  a  new  triumph  to  the 
cause  of  human  liberty:  and,  that  Providence  would  bless  her,  as  he  had 
her  northern  sister,  with  the  genius  of  some  great  and  virtuous  man,  to  con 
duct  her  securely  through  all" her  trials.  We  had  even  flattered  ourselves 
that  we  beheld  that  genius  in  your  excellency.  But  I  should  be  unworthy 
of  the  consideration  with  which  your  excellency  honors  me,  and  deviate 


78  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

from  the  frankness  which  I  have  ever  endeavored  to  practise,  if  I  did  not, 
on  this  occasion,  state,  that  ambitious  designs  have  been  attributed  by  your 
enemies  to  your  excellency,  which  have  created  in  my  mind  great  solicitude. 
They  have  cited  late  events  in  Colombia  as.  proofs  of  these  designs.  But» 
slow  in  the  withdrawal  of  confidence  which  I  have  once  given,  I  have  been 
most  unwilling  to  credit  the  unfavorable  accounts  which  have  from  time  to 
time  reached  me.  I  can  not  allow  myself  to  believe,  that  your  excellency 
will  abandon  the  bright  and  glorious  path  which  lies  plainly  before  you,  for 
the  bloody  road,  passing  over  the  liberties  of  the  human  race,  on  which  the 
vulgar  crowds  of  tyrants  and  military  despots  have  so  often  trodden.  I 
will  not  doubt,  that  your  excellency  will,  in  due  time,  render  a  satisfactory 
explanation  to  Colombia  and  the  world,  of  the  parts  of  your  public  conduct 
which  have  excited  any  distrust ;  and  that,  preferring  the  true  glory  of  our  im 
mortal  Washington  to  the  ignoble  fame  of  the  destroyers  of  liberty,  you  have 
formed  the  patriotic  resolution  of  ultimately  placing  the  freedom  of  Colom 
bia  upon  a  firm  and  sure  foundation.  That  your  efforts  to  that  end  may 
be  crowned  with  complete  success,  I  most  fervently  pray. 

"  I  request  that  your  excellency  will  accept  assurances  of  my  sincere 
wishes  for  your  happiness  and  prosperity. 

"H.  CLAY." 

The  disinterestedness  of  Mr.  Clay's  motives,  in  his  course  to 
ward  the  South  American  republics,  was  forcibly  displayed  in 
his  frank  and  open  appeal  to  Bolivar.  Had  his  object  been  to 
acquire  influence  and  popularity  among  the  people  of  those  coun 
tries,  he  would  hardly  have  addressed  such  plain  reproaches  and 
unpalatable  truths  to  a  chief  who  was  all-powerful  with  them  at 
the  time.  But  in  a  cause  where  the  freedom  of  any  portion  of 
mankind  was  implicated,  Mr.  Clay  was  never  known  to  hesitate, 
to  reckon  his  own  interests,  or  to  weigh  the  consequences  to 
himself  from  an  avowal  of  his  own  opinions.  On  all  subjects, 
indeed,  he  is  far  above  disguise  ;  and  though  he  may  sometimes 
incur  the  charge  of  indiscretion  by  his  uncalculating  candor  and 
fearless  translucency  of  sentiment,  the  trait  is  one  which  claims 
for  him  our  affection  and  confidence.  Independent  in  his  opin 
ions  as  in  his  actions,  no  suggestion  of  self-interest  could  ever 
interpose  an  obstacle  to  the  bold  and  magnanimous  utterance  of 
the  former  or  to  the  conscientious  discharge  of  the  latter. 


INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENTS.  79 


VI. 
INTERNAL  IMPROVEMENT PROTECTION. 

WE  have  seen  that  from  an  early  period  Mr.  Clay  was  an  ad 
vocate  of  the  doctrine  of  internal  improvement.  His  speech  in 
Congress  in  1806,  had  been  in  vindication  of  the  policy  author 
izing  the  erection  of  a  bridge  across  the  Potomac  river.  In  the 
passages  we  have  quoted  from  his  speech  of  January,  1816,  he 
declared  himself  in  favor  not  only  of  a  system  of  internal  im 
provement,  but  of  protection  to  our  manufactures. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  bill  appropriating  for  purposes 
of  internal  improvement  the  bonus  which  was  to  be  paid  by  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  to  the  general  government,  after  hav 
ing  been  passed  by  Congress,  had  been  returned  by  President 
Madison  without  his  signature,  in  consequence  of  constitutional 
objections  to  the  bill.  Mr.  Clay  had  been  much  surprised  at  this 
act ;  for  Mr.  Madison,  in  one  of  his  messages,  had  said  :  "  I  par 
ticularly  invite  again  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  expediency 
of  exercising  their  existing  powers,  and,  where  necessary,  of  re 
sorting  to  the  prescribed  mode  of  enlarging  them,  in  order  to 
effectuate  a  comprehensive  system  of  roads  and  canals,  such  as 
will  have  the  effect  of  drawing  more  closely  together  every  part 
of  our  country,  by  promoting  intercourse  and  improvements,  and 
by  increasing  the  share  of  every  part  in  the  common  stock  of 
national  prosperity." 

Mr.  Monroe,  in  anticipation  of  the  action  of  Congress,  had  ex 
pressed  an  opinion  in  his  message  opposed  to  the  right  of  Con 
gress  to  establish  a  system  of  internal  improvement.  Mr  Jeffer 
son's  authority  was  also  cited  to  show  that,  under  the  constitution, 
roads  and  canals  could  not  be'  constructed  by  the  general  govern 
ment  without  the  consent  of  the  state  or  states  through  which 
they  were  to  pass.  Thus  three  successive  presidents  had  op 
posed  the  proposition. 

Against  this  weight  of  precedent,  Mr.  Clay  undertook  to  per- 
§uade  Congress  of  their  power  under  the  constitution  to  appro- 


80  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

priate  money  for  the  construction  of  military  roads,  post-roads 
and  canals.  A  resolution,  embodying  a  clause  to  this  effect,  came 
before  the  house  in  March,  1818  ;  and  he  lent  to  it  his  unremit 
ting  advocacy. 

In  regard  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  proposed  measure,  he 
contended  that  the  power  to  construct  post-roads  is  expressly 
granted  in  the  power  to  ESTABLISH  post-roads.  With  respect  to 
military  roads,  the  concession  that  they  might  be  made  when 
called  for  by  the  emergency,  was  admitting  that  the  constitution 
conveyed  the  power.  "  And  we  may  safely  appeal,"  said  Mr. 
Clay,  "  to  the  judgment  of  the  candid  and  enlightened  to  decide 
between  the  wisdom  of  those  two  constructions,  of  which  one  re 
quires  you  to  wait  for  the  exercise  of  your  power  until  the  ar 
rival  of  an  emergency  which  may  not  allow  you  to  exert  it ;  and 
the  other,  without  denying  you  the  power,  if  you  can  exercise  it 
during  the  emergency,  claims  the  right  of  providing  beforehand 
against  the  emergency." 

Mr.  Clay's  motion,  recognising  in  Congress  the  constitutional 
power  to  make  appropriations  for  internal  improvements,  was 
finally  carried  by  a  vote  of  ninety  to  seventy-five.  The  victory 
was  a  most  signal  one,  obtained,  as  it  was,  over  the  transmitted 
prejudices  of  two  previous  administrations,  and  the  active  oppo 
sition  of  the  one  in  power. 

From  that  period  to  his  final  retirement  from  the  senate  he  was 
the  ever-vigilant  and  persevering  advocate  of  internal  improve 
ments.  He  was  the  father  of  the  system,  and  has  ever  been  its 
most  efficient  upholder.  On  the  16th  of  January,  1824,  he  ad 
dressed  the  house  upon  a  bill  authorizing  the  president  to  effect 
certain  surveys  and  estimates  of  roads  and  canals. 

The  opponents  of  the  system,  including  President  Monroe,  had 
claimed  that,  in  respect  to  post-roads,  the  general  government 
had  no  other  authority  than  to  use  such  as  had  been  previously 
established  by  the  states.  They  asserted  that  to  repair  such 
roads  was  not  within  the  constitutional  power  of  government. 
Mr.  Monroe  gave  his  direct  sanction  to  this  doctrine,  maintaining 
that  the  states  were  at  full  liberty  to  alter,  and  of  course  to  shut 
up,  post-roads  at  pleasure. 

"  Is  it  possible,"  asked  Mr.  Clay,  "  that  this  construction  of 


THE    CUMBERLAND    ROAD.  81 

the  constitution  can  be  correct — a  construction  which  allows  a 
law  of  the  United  States,  enacted  for  the  good  of  the  whole,  to 
be  obstructed  or  defeated  in  its  operation  by  a  county  court  in 
any  one  of  the  twenty-four  sovereignties  ?" 

To  Mr.  Clay's  strenuous  and  persevering  exertions  for  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  great  Cumberland  road  across  the  Alleghenies, 
the  records  of  Congress  will  bear  ample  and  constantly-recurring 
testimony.  He  himself  has  said  :  "  We  have  had  to  beg,  entreat, 
supplicate  you,  session  after  session,  to  grant  the  necessary  ap 
propriations  to  complete  the  road.  I  have  myself  toiled  until  my 
powers  have  been  exhausted  and  prostrated,  to  prevail  on  you  to 
make  the  grant."  His  courageous  efforts*  were  at  .length  re 
warded  ;  and  to  him  we  are  indebted  for  the  most  magnificent 
carriage-road  in  the  United  States. 

At  a  dinner  given  to  him  a  few  years  since  by  the  mechanics 
of  Wheeling,  Mr.  Clay  spoke  warmly,  and  with  something  like 
a  parental  feeling,  of  this  road — expressing  a  wish  that  it  might 
be  retained,  improved,  and  extended,  by  the  nation.  He  illustra 
ted  its  importance  by  observing  that,  before  it  was  made,  he  and 
his  family  had  expended  a  whole  day  of  toilsome  and  fatiguing 
travel  to  pass  the  distance  of  about  nine  miles,  from  Uniontown 
to  Freeman's,  on  the  summit  of  Laurel  hill ;  adding  that  eighty 
miles  over  that  and  other  mountains  were  now  made  in  one  day 
by  the  public  stage.  He  said  that  the  road  was  the  only  com 
fortable  pass  across  the  mountains,  and  that  he  would  not  consent 
to  give  it  up  to  the  keeping  of  the  states  through  which  it  hap 
pened  to  run.  The  people  of  nine  states  might  thus  be  interfered 
with  in  their  communication  with  the  rest  of  the  Union. 

The  country  has  not  been  wholly  unmindful  of  Mr.  Clay's  pre 
eminent  services  in  behalf  of  this  beneficent  measure.  On  the 
Cumberland  road  stands  a  monument  of  stone,  surmounted  by  the 
genius  of  liberty,  and  bearing  as  an  inscription  the'  name  cf 
"  HENRY  CLAY." 

During  the  second  session  of  Uie  fifteenth  Congress,  in  Janu 
ary,  1819,  the  subject  of  General  Andrew  Jackson's  conduct  in 
his  celebrated  Florida  campaign  came  up  for  discussion.  That 
chieftain,  after  subjecting  the  vanquished  Indians  to  conditions 
the  most  cruel  and  impracticable,  had  hung  two  prisoners-of-war, 
D*  6 


82 


LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 


Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  and  concluded  his  series  of  outrages 
by  lawlessly  seizing  the  Spanish  posts  of  St.  Marks  and  Pensa- 
cola. 

Committees  of  the  senate  and  the  house  made  reports  reproba- 
tory  of  his  conduct ;  and  resolutions  were  presented,  containing 
four  propositions.  The  first  asserted  the  disapprobation  of  the 
house  of  the  proceedings  in  the  trial  and  execution  of  Arbuthnot 
and  Ambrister.  The  second  contemplated  the  passage  of  a  law 
to  prevent  the  execution  hereafter  of  any  captive  taken  by  the 
army,  without  the  approbation  of  the  president.  The  third  prop 
osition  was  e-xpressive  of  the  disapproval  of  the  forcible  seizure 
of  the  Spanish  posts,  as  contrary  to  orders,  and  in  violation  of 
the  constitution.  The  fourth  proposition  was  that  a  law  should 
pass  to  prohibit  the  march  of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  or 
any  corps  of  it,  into  any  foreign  territory,  without  the  previous 
authorization  of  Congress,  except  it  were  in  fresh  pursuit  of  a 
defeated  enemy. 

We  will  not  attempt  an  abstract  of  Mr.  Clay's  eloquent  and 
argumentative  speech  in  support  of  these  propositions.  Far  less 
disposed  are  we  to  repeat  the  discreditable  history  of  the  wrongs 
and  usurpations  perpetrated  by  General  Jackson.  It  may  be 
proper  to  state,  however,  that  Mr.  Clay,  grateful  for  the  public 
services  of  the  general,  treated  him  with  a  forbearance  and  kind 
ness  which  rendered  the  sincerity  of  his  animadversions  the 
more  obvious. — '  With  respect  to  the  purity  of  his  intentions," 
said  Mr.  Clay,  "  I  am  disposed  to  allow  it  in  the  most  extensive 
degree.  Of  his  acts  it  is  my  duty  to  speak  with  the  freedom 
which  belongs  to  my  station." 

The  speaker  then  proceeded  to  expose,  in  a  most  forcible 
point  of  view,  the  dangerous  and  arbitrary  character  of  those  acts, 
and  the  constitutional  violations  of  which  General  Jackson  had 
been  guilty. — There  are  many  passages  in  this  speech  which, 
when  we  regard  thdii  in  connection  with  the  subsequent  presi 
dential  usurpation  of  the  same  military  chieftain,  seem  truly  like 
prophetic  glimpses.  Take,  for  example,  the  concluding  para 
graph :  — 

"Gentlemen  maj-  bear  down  all  opposition;  they  may  even  vote  the 
general  the  public  thanks;  they  may  carry  him  triumphantly  through  this 


GENERAL    JACKSON*S    CONDUCT    IN    FLORIDA.  83 

house.  But,  if  they  do,  in  my  humble  judgment,  it  will  be  a  triumph  of  th« 
principle  of  insubordination — a  triumph  of  the  military  over  the  civil 
authority — a  triumph  over  the  powers  of  this  house — a  triumph  over  the 
constitution  of  the  land.  And  I  pray  most  devoutly  to  Heaven  that  it  may 
not  prove,  in  its  ultimate  effects,  a  triumph  over  the  liberties  of  the  people." 

Even  at  that  distant  day,  Mr.  Clay  saw  in  the  conduct  of 
General  Jackson,  the  indications  of  that  imperious  will — of  that 
spirit  of  insubordination — which,  dangerous  as  they  were  in  a 
military  commander,  were  not  less  pernicious  and  alarming  in  a 
civil  chief  magistrate.  With  his  keen,  instinctive  faculty  of 
penetration,  he  discovered  the  despotic  and  impulsive  character 
of  the  man.  Every  page  of  his  speech  on  the  Seminole  cam 
paign,  furnishes  evidence  of  this  fact. 

How,  then,  when  the  question  was  presented  to  him  of  de 
ciding  between  the  qualifications  of  John  Quincy  Adams  and 
Andrew  Jackson  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States — how 
could  Henry  Clay,  as  a  consistent  and  honorable  man,  hesitate 
for  a  moment  in  his  choice  ?  And  yet  an  amount  of  obloquy  and 
vituperation,  such  as  never  before  was  heaped  upon  a  public 
servant,  has  been  lavished  on  him  because  of  his  refusing  to  vote 
for  General  Jackson,  on  that  occasion!  Had  he  done  so,  he 
would  have  been  false  to  his  past  professions  and  convictions — 
false  to  conscience,  to  patriotism,  and  the  plainest  dictates  of 
duty. 

The  resolutions  of  censure,  being  strenuously  opposed  by  Mr. 
Monroe  and  his  cabinet,  were  lost  in  the  house  by  a  small  ma 
jority.  The  dispassionate  judgment  of  posterity  will  inevitably 
accord  with  the  views  so  eloquently  expressed  by  Mr.  Clay  in 
regard  to  General  Jackson's  conduct  in  Florida. 

We  come  now  to  one  of  the  most  important  epochs  in  Mr. 
Clay's  public  history.  In  the  opinion  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  it  is  to  his  long-continued,  arduous, 
and  triumphant  efforts  in  the  cause  of  protection  to  American  in 
dustry  and  skill,  that  he  will  be  indebted  for  his  highest  and  most 
enduring  fame.  We  have  seen  that,  as  far  back  as  1810,  he  laid 
the  foundation-stone  of  that  great  and  beneficent  American  system, 
of  which  he  was  the  originator  and  the  architect. 

To  specify  and  describe  all  his  labors  in  the  establishment 
and  advancement  of  his  noble  policy,  from  that  time  to  the  period 


84  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

of  his  retirement  from  the  senate,  would  alone  fill  more  space 
than  we  can  give  to  his  whole  life.  The  journals  of  Congress,  and 
the  political  newspapers  of  the  country,  for  the  last  thirty  years, 
will  be  found  to  be  occupied,  to  no  inconsiderable  extent,  with 
the  record  of  his  efforts,  and  arguments,  and  untiring  appeals. 
We  can  present  but  a  very  imperfect  outline  of  his  glorious 
though  peaceful  achievements  in  the  cause  of  human  industry, 
labor,  and  prosperity. 

On  the  12th  of  March,  1816,  Mr.  Lowndes,  of  South  Carolina, 
from  the  committee  of  ways  and  means,  introduced  before  the 
house,  a  bill  "  to  regulate  the  duties  on  imports  and  tonnage, 
&c."  The  bill  was  avowedly  favorable  to  a  tariff  of  protection  ; 
and,  strange  as  the  record  may  seem,  one  of  its  most  ardent  sup 
porters  was  John  C.  Calhoun.  The  whole  question  was  debated 
with  reference  to  the  protective  policy.  It  was  thoroughly  dis 
cussed  in  committee  of  the  whole  ;  and,  through  thg  exertions 
of  Mr.  Clay,  a  higher  duty  was  adopted  for  the  important  article 
of  woollens.  The  amendment,  however,  was  unfortunately  lost 
in  the  house  ;  but  the  bill,  such  as  it  was,  passed. 
\  In  the  spring  of  1820,  the  subject,  of  a  tariff  again  came  before 
Congress  ;  and  Mr.  Clay  made  a  most  interesting  and  impressive 
speech  in  favor  of  protective  duties. 

"I  frankly  own,"  said  he,  on  this  occasion,  "that  I  feel  great  solicitude 
for  the  success  of  this  bill.  The  entire  independence  of  my  country  on  all 
foreign  states,  as  it  respects  the  supply  of  our  essential  wants,  has  ever  been 
with  me  a  favorite  object.  The  war  of  our  revolution  effected  our  political 
emancipation.  The  last  war  contributed  greatly  toward  accomplishing  our 
commercial  freedom.  But  our  complete  independence  will  only  be  consum 
mated  after  the  policy  of  this  bill  shall  be  recognised  and  adopted.  We  have, 
indeed,  great  difficulties  to  contend  with — old  habits — colonial  usages — the 
enormous  profits  of  a  foreign  trade,  prosecuted  under  favorable  circum 
stances,  which  no  longer  continue.  I  will  not  despair.  The  cause,  I  verily 
believe,  is  the  cause  of  the  country.  It  may  be  postponed ;  it  may  be  frus 
trated  for  the  moment,  but  it  finally  must  prevail." 

And  it  was  postponed  ;  it  was  frustrated  for  the  moment ;  but  it 
finally  did  prevail. 

The  tariff  was  remodeled  by  the  house,  but  their  bill  was  re 
jected  by  the  senate. 

In  1823,  the  health  of  Mr.  Clay  was  very  poor — so  much  so, 
that  his  life  was  despaired  of  by  both  his  friends  and  himself 
He  had  attended  the  Olympian  springs  in  Kentucky,  in  the  sum 


SUPPORT    OF    THE    AMERICAN.  SYSTEM. 

mer,  had  been  placed  under  a  strict  regimen,  and  subjected  to  &. 
long  course  of  medicine.  In  spite  of  all  remedies,  he  felt  a 
gradual  decline,  and  looked  forward  to  a  speedy  dissolution.  In 
November  he  was  to  start  for  Washington,  and  fully  anticipated, 
that  after  reaching  that  city,  if  he  reached  it  at  all,  he  should  be 
obliged  to  hasten  to  the  south  as  a  last  resort.  He  procured  a 
small  travelling  carriage  and  a  saddle-horse — threw  aside  all  the 
prescriptions  of  the  physician,  and  commenced  his  journey. 
Daily  he  walked  on  foot,  drove  in  his  carriage,  and  rode  on  horse 
back.  He  arrived  at  Washington  quite  well,  was  elected  speaker 
and  went  through  more  labor  than  he  ever  performed  in  any  other 
session,  excepting,  perhaps,  the  extra  session  of  1841. 

'The  condition  of  the  country,  in  1824,  was  far  from  prosperous. 
The  amount  of  our  exports  had  diminished  to  an  alarming  degree, 
while  our  imports  of  foreign  goods  had  greatly  increased.  The 
country  was  thus  drained  of  its  currency  ;  and  its  commerce  was 
crippled.  Nor  was  there  any  home-market  for  the  staple  pro 
ductions  of  our  soil.  Both  cotton-planters  and  wool-growers 
shared  in  the  general  prostration  ;  and  even  the  farmer  had  to 
sell  his  produce  at  a  loss,  or  keep  it  on  hand  till  it  was  ruined. 
Labor  could  with  difficulty  find  employment ;  and  its  wages  were 
hardly  sufficient  to  supply  the  bare  necessities  of  life.  Money 
could  only  be  procured  at  enormous  sacrifices.  Distress  and 
bankruptcy  pervaded  every  class  of  the  community. 

In  January,  1824,  a  tariff  bill  was  reported  by  the  committee 
on  manufactures  of  the  house  ;  and  in  March  following,  Mr.  Clay 
made  his  great  and  ever-memorable  speech  in  the  house,  in  sup 
port  of  American  industry.  Many  of  our  readers  will  vividly 
remember  the  deplorable  state  of  the  country  at  that  time.  It  is 
impressively  portrayed  in  his  exordium  on  this  occasion. 

The  CAUSE  of  the  wide-spread  distress  which  existed,  he  main 
tained,  was  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that,  during  almost  the  whole 
existence  of  this  government,  we  had  shaped  our  industry,  our 
navigation,  and  our  commerce,  in  reference  to  an  extraordinary 
market  in  Europe,  and  to  foreign  markets,  which  no  longer  ex 
isted  ;  in  the  fact  that  we  had  depended  too  much  upon  foreign 
sources  of  supply,  and  excited  too  little  the  native. 

On  this  occasion,  Mr.  Webster,  whose  v'ews  upon  the  subject 


86  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

afterward  underwent  an  entire  change,  opposed  the  bill  with  the 
whole  powerful  weight  of  his  talents  and  legal  profundity.  Mr. 
Clay  took  up,  one  by  one,  the  objections  of  the  opposition,  labori 
ously  examined  and  confuted  them.  For  specimens  of  pure  and 
strongly-linked  argument,  the  annals  of  Congress  exhibit  no 
speech  superior  to  that  of  March,  1824.  In  amplitude  and 
variety  of  facts,  in  force  and  earnestness  of  language,  and 
cogency  of  appeal  to  the  reason  and  patriotism  of  Congress 
and  the  people,  it  has  rarely  been  equalled.  It  would  have  been 
surprising  indeed,  if,  notwithstanding  the  strongly-arrayed  oppo 
sition,  such  a  speech  had  failed  in  overcoming  it.  Experience 
has  amply  proved  the  validity  and  justice  of  its  arguments.  Its 
prophecies  have  been  all  fulfilled. 

The  tariff  bill  finally  passed  the  house,  the  L6th  of  April,  1824, 
by  a  vote  of  107  to  102.  It  soon  afterward  became  a  law. 

We  will  leave  it  to  Mr.  Clay  himself  to  describe  the  results  of 
*  his  policy,  eight  years  after  it  had  been  adopted  as  the  policy 
of  the  country.  After  recalling  the  gloomy  picture  he  had  pre 
sented  in  1824,  he  said  :  — 

"  I  have  now  to  perform  the  more  pleasing  task  of  exhibiting  an  imperfect 
sketch  of  the  existing  state — of  the  unparalleled  prosperity  of  the  country. 
On  a  general  survey,  we  behold  cultivation  extending,  the  arts  flourishing, 
the  face  of  the  country  improved,  our  people  fully  and  profitably  employed, 
and  the  public  countenances  exhibiting  tranquillity,  contentment,  and  hap 
piness.  And,  if  we  descend  into  particulars,  we  have  the  agreeable  con 
templation  of  a  people  out  of  debt ;  land  rising  slowly  in  value,  but  in  a 
secure  and  salutary  degree  ;  a  ready,  though  not  extravagant  market,  for  all 
the  surplus  productions  of  our  industry ;  innumerable  flocks  and  herds 
browsing  and  gamboling  on  ten  thousand  hills  and  plains,  covered  with  rich 
and  verdant  grasses ;  our  cities  expanded,  and  whole  villages  springing  up, 
as  it  were,  by  enchantment ;  our  exports  and  imports  increased  and  in 
creasing  ;  our  tonnage,  foreign  and  coastwise,  swelling  and  fully  occupied ; 
the  rivers  of  our  interior  animated  by  the  thunder  and  lightning  of  count 
less  steamboats ;  the  currency  sound  and  abundant ;  the  public  debt  of  two 
wars  nearly  redeemed ;  and,  to  crown  all,  the  public  treasury  overflowing, 
embarrassing  Congress,  not  to  find  subjects  of  taxation,  but  to  select  the  ob 
jects  which  shall  be  relieved  from  the  impost.  If  the  term  of  seven  years 
were  to  be  selected  of  the  greatest  prosperity  which  this  people  have  en 
joyed  since  the  establishment  of  their  present  constitution,  it  would  be 
itxactly  that  period  of  seven  years  which  immediately  followed  the  passage 
»f  the  tariff  of  1824." 

Such  were  the  consequences  of  the  benign  legislation  intro- 
luced  and  carried  into  operation  by  Henry  Clay.  And  thougn 
he  reverse  of  the  picture  was  soon  presented  to  us,  through  the 


RANDOLPH'S  SARCASMS — ANECDOTE.  87 

violent  executive  measures  of  General  Jackson,  inflating  and  then 
prostrating  the  currency,  and  the  course  Afterward  pursued,  we 
have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  Mr.  Clay  has  never  wavered 
in  his  course  ;  and  that,  had  his  warnings  been  regarded,  and  his 
counsels  taken,  a  far  different  state  of  things  would,  in  all  proba 
bility,  have  existed. 

The  unanimous  voice  of  the  country  has  accorded  to  Mr.  Clay 
the  merit  of  having  been  the  father  of  the  system,  which  has 
been  justly  called  the  American  system.  To  his  personal  his 
tory  belong  the  testimonials  of  the  various  state  legislatures  and 
conventions,  and  of  the  innumerable  public  meetings,  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  which  awarded  him  the  praise,  and  tendered  him 
the  grateful  acknowledgments  of  the  community.  To  his  indi 
vidual  exertions,  the  manufacturing  industry  of  the  United  States 
is  indebted  to  a  degree  which  it  is  now  difficult  to  realize.  By 
the  magic  power  of  his  eloquence,  the  country  was  raised  from  a 
state  of  prostration  and  distress  ;  cities,  were  called  into  exist 
ence,  and  the  wilderness  was  truly  made  to  blossom  like  the  rose 

Mr.  Clay's  zealous  and  laborious  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  tariff, 
can  only  be  appreciated  by  a  reference  to  the  journal  of  the  house 
of  that  period.  It  seems  as  if  he  had  been  called  upon  to  battle 
for  every  item  of  the  bill,  inch  by  inch.  The  whole  power  of  a 
large  and  able  opposition  was  arrayed  against  him ;  and  every 
weapon  that  argument,  rhetoric,  and  ridicule,  could  supply,  was 
employed.  John  Randolph  was,  as  on  former  occasions,  an  active 
and  bitter  antagonist.  Once  or  twice,  he  provoked  Mr.  Clay  into 
replying  to  his  personal  taunts. 

"Sir,"  said  Mr.  C.,  on  one  occasion,  "the  gentleman  from  Virginia  was 
pleased  to  say,  that  in  one  point,  at  least,  he  coincided  with  me — in  an 
humble  estimate  of  my  grammatical  and  philological  acquirements.  I  know 
my  deficiencies.  I  was  born  to  no  proud  patrimonial  estate  ;  from  my  father 
I  inherited  only  infancy,  ignorance,  and  indigence.  I  feel  my  defects ;  but, 
BO  far  as  my  situation  in  early  life  is  concerned,  I  may,  without  presumption, 
say  they  are  more  my  misfortune  than  my  fault.  But,  however  I  deplore 
my  want  of  ability  to  furnish  to  the  gentleman  a  better  specimen  of  powers 
of  verbal  criticism,  I  will  venture  to  say,  my  regret  is  not  greater  than  the 
disappointment  of  this  committee,  as  to  the  strength  of  his  argument." 

The  following  is  in  a  different  vein.  After  the  passage  of  the 
tariff  bill,  on  the  16th  of  April,  1824,  when  the  house  had  ad 
journed,  and  the  speaker  was  stepping  down  >rom  his  seat,  I 


88  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

gentleman  who  had  voted  with  the  majority,  said  to  him,  "  "Wo 
have  done  pretty  well  to-day." — "  Yes,"  returned  Mr.  Clay,  "  we 
made  a  good  stand,  considering  we  lost  both  our  Feet" — alluding 
to  Mr.  Foot  of  Connecticut,  and  Mr.  Foote  of  New  York,  who 
both  voted  against  the  bill,  though  it  was  thought,  some  time 
before,  that  they  would  give  it  their  support. 


VII. 

MISSOURI GREECE LAFAYETTE. 

DURING  the  session  of  1820-'21,  the  "distracting  question," 
as  it  was  termed,  of  admitting  Missouri  into  the  Union,  which 
had  been  the  subject  of  many  angry  and  tedious  debates,  was  dis 
cussed  in  both  branches  of  Congress.  The  controverted  point 
was,  whether  she  should  be  admitted  as  a  slave  state. 

Slavery  had  been  expressly  excluded  from  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
Illinois,  by  acts  of  Congress,  on  their  admission  into  the  Union. 
Bu1  that  restriction  was  by  virtue  of  an  ordinance  of  the  former 
Congress,  under  the  confederation,  prohibiting  the  introduction  of 
slavery  into  the  northwest  territory,  out  of  which  these  states 
were  formed.  Missouri  was  part  of  the  Louisiana  territory,  pur 
chased  of  France,  in  1803.  And  in  various  parts  of  that  exten 
sive  territory,  slavery  then  existed,  and  had  long  been  established. 

Louisiana  had  been  admitted  into  the  Union  without  restriction 
of  the  kind  proposed  for  Missouri.  The  states  of  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama,  had  also  been  admitted  as 
separate  states  previous  to  this  period  ;  and,  as  they  were  taken 
from  states  in  which  slavery  existed,  they  had  been  made  subject 
to  no  such  restriction.  It  was  contended  that,  on  the  same  prin 
ciple,  Missouri  should  also  be  received,  without  requiring,  as  a 
condition  of  admission,  the  exclusion  of  slavery.  And  it  was 
also  insisted  that  it  would  be  interfering  with  the  independent 
character  of  a  state,  to  enforce  any  such  restriction,  which  was 
manifestly  a  subject  of  regulation  by  the  state  authority. 

On  the  contrary,  it  was  urged  that  in  the  old  states  the  subject 


'I  HE    MISSOURI    QUESTION.  89 

was  expressly  settled  by  the  constitution,  and  Congress  could  not 
justly  interfere  in  those  states  ;  but  that  it  was  otherwise  with 
new  states  received  into  the  Union  ;  in  which  case  Congress  had 
the  right  to  impose  such  restrictions  and  conditions  as  it  might 
choose  ;  that  it  was  evidently  the  intention  of  the  old  Congress 
not  to  extend  slavery,  having  prohibited  its  introduction  or  exist 
ence  in  new  states  to  be  formed  out  of  the  northwest  territory  ; 
and  that  slavery  was  so  great  an  evil,  and  so  abhorrent  to  the 
principles  of  a  free  government,  that  it  should  be  abolished  or 
prohibited  wherever  it  could  be  constitutionally  affected. 

The  discussion  went  on  from  month  to  month,  and  from  session 
to  session,  increasing  in  fierceness,  and  diverging  farther  and 
farther  from  the  prospect  of  an  amicable  settlement.  Among  the 
prominent  advocates  for  excluding  slavery  from  Missouri,  were 
Rufus  King  from  New  York,  Otis  of  Massachusetts,  Dana  of 
Connecticut,  Sergeant  and  Hemphill  of  Pennsylvania.  Of  those 
opposed  to  restriction,  were  Holmes  of  Massachusetts,  Vandyke 
and  M'Lane  of  Delaware,  Pinckney  of  Maryland,  Randolph  and 
Barbour  of  Virginia,  Lowndes  of  South  Carolina,  Clay  and  John 
son  of  Kentucky. 

A  bill  for  the  admission  of  Missouri  had  been  defeated  during 
the  session  of  1818-'!  9  ;  and  the  inflammatory  subject  had, 
during  the  vacation  of  Congress,  given  rise  to  incessant  conten 
tion.  The  press  entered  warmly  into  the  controversy.  The  most 
violent  pamphlets  were  published  on  both  sides.  Public  meetings 
thundered  forth  their  resolutions  ;  and  the  Union  seemed  to  be 
fearfully  shaken  to  its  centre.  It  may  be  imagined,  then,  with 
what  interest  the  next  session  of  Congress  was  looked  to  by  the 
people. 

Many  eloquent  speeches  were  made  in  the  house  upon  the 
question.  Mr.  Clay  spoke,  at  one  time,  nearly  four  hours  against 
the  restriction ;  but  there  remains  no  published  sketch  of  his  re 
marks.  The  vote  in  the  house  of  representatives  was  several 
times  given  for  excluding  slavery  ;  but  the  senate  disagreed,  and 
would  not  yield  to  the  house. 

In  1820,  the  people  of  the  territory  of  Missouri,  proceeded  to 
ordain  and  establish  a  constitution  of  government  for  the  contem 
plated  state.  Among  other  provisions,  it  was  ordained,  in  the 


90  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

twenty-sixth  section  of  the  third  article,  that  it  should  be  the  duty 
of  the  general  assembly,  as  soon  as  might  be,  to  pass  suck  laws 
as  were  necessary  to  prevent  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  from  coming 
to  and  settling  in  the  state,  under  any  pretext  whatever"  Under 
this  constitution  a  state  government  was  organized  and  went  into 
operation. 

This  clause,  for  the  exclusion  of  free  negroes  and  mulattoes, 
fanned  into  fresh  life  the  flame  of  excitement  which  had  been  par 
tially  allayed.  The  whole  country  was  now  thrown  into  com 
motion  upon  the  question  of  admitting  Missouri. 

In  the  autumn  of  1820,  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  experienced  heavy 
pecuniary  losses  by  endorsing  for  a  friend,  resolved  to  retire  from 
Congress,  and,  in  the  practice  of  the  law,  devote  himself  to  the 
reparation  of  his  private  affairs.  Accordingly,  at  the  meeting  of 
Congress,  the  13th  of  November,  1820,  the  clerk,  having  an 
nounced  that  a  quorum  was  present,  said  that  he  had  received  a 
letter  from  the  Hon.  Henry  Clay,  which,  with  the  leave  of  the 
house,  he  read  as  follows  :  — 

"LEXINGTON,  Ky.,  October  28,  1820. 

"  SIK  : — I  will  thank  you  to  communicate  to  the  house  of  representatives, 
that  owing  to  imperious  circumstances,  I  shall  not  be  able  to  attend  upon  it 
until  after  the  Christmas  holydays ;  and  to  respectfully  ask  it  to  allow  me  to 
resign  the  office  of  its  speaker,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  hold,  and  to  con 
sider  this  as  the  act  of  my  resignation.  I  beg  the  house  also  to  permit  m* 
to  reiterate  the  expression  of  my  sincere  acknowledgments  and  unaffected 
gratitude  for  the  distinguished  consideration  which  it  has  uniformly  mani 
fested  for  me.  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  <fcc.,  "H.  CLAY. 

"  THOS.  DOUGHERTY,  Esq.,  Clerk  H.  of  E." 

In  view  of  the  agitating  question  before  Congress,  Mr.  Clay 
consented,  however,  to  retain  his  seat  as  a  member  of  the  house 
till  his  term  of  service  expired,  although  no  longer  its  presiding 
officer.  Early  in  the  session  the  Missouri  question  came  up. 
Those  who  now  opposed  its  admission  contended,  that  free  citi 
zens  and  mulattoes  were  citizens  of  the  states  of  their  residence ; 
that  as  such,  they  had  a  right  under  the  constitution,  to  remove 
to  Missouri,  or  any  other  state  of  the  Union,  and  there  enjoy  all 
the  privileges  and  immunities  of  other  citizens  of  the  United 
States  emigrating  to  the  same  place ;  and,  therefore,  that  the 
clause  in  the  constitution  of  Missouri,  quoted  above,  was  repug 
nant  to  that  of  the  United  States,  and  she  ought  not  to  be  receiv 
ed  into  the  Union . 


THE    MISSOURI    COMPROMISE.  91 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  maintained  that  the  African  race 
whether  bond  or  free,  were  not  parties  to  our  political  institu 
tions  ;  that,  therefore,  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  were  not  citi 
zens,  within  the  meaning  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  ; 
and  even  if  the  constitution  of  Missouri  were  repugnant  to  that 
of  the  United  States,  the  latter  was  paramount,  and  would  over 
rule  the  conflicting  provision  of  the  former,  without  the  interfer 
ence  of  Congress. 

Such  was  the  perilous  and  portentous  question  which  now 
threatened  a  disruption  of  the  Union.  In  some  shape  or  other,  it 
was  presented  almost  daily  and  hourly  to  Congress ;  and  became, 
at  length,  a  perfect  incubus  upon  legislation.  In  this  state  of 
things,  Mr.  Clay  arrived  in  Washington,  and  took  his  seat  in  the 
house  on  the  sixteenth  of  January,  1821.  On  the  second  of  Feb 
ruary,  he  submitted  a  motion  to  refer  a  resolution  of  the  senate 
on  the  Missouri  question  to  a  committee  of  thirteen — a  number 
suggested  by  that  of  the  original  states  of  the  Union.  The  mo 
tion  was  agreed  to,  and  the  following  gentlemen  were  appointed 
a  committee  accordingly  : — 

Messrs.  Clay  of  Ky.,  Eustis  of  Mass.,  Smith  of  Md.,  Sergeant 
of  Pa.,  Lowndes  of  S.  C.,  Ford  of  N.  Y.,  Campbell  of  Ohio, 
Archer  of  Va.,  Hackley  of  N.  Y.,  S.  Moore,  of  Pa.,  Cobb  of 
Ga.,  Tomlinson  of  Ct.,  and  Butler  of  N.  H. 

On  the  tenth  of  the  same  month,  Mr.  Clay  made  a  report,  con 
cluding  with  an  amendment  to  the  senate's  resolution,  by  which 
amendment  Missouri  was  admitted  upon  the  following  fundamen 
tal  condition : — 

"  It  is  provided  that  the  said  state  shall  never  pass  any  law  preventing 
any  description  of  persons  from  coming  to  and  settling  in  the  said  state, 
who  now  are  or  hereafter  may  become  citizens  of  any  of  the  states  of  this 
Union ;  and  provided  also,  that  the  legislature  of  the  said  state,  by  a  solemn 
public  act,  shall  declare  the  assent  of  the  said  state  to  the  said  fundamental 
condition,  and  shall  transmit  to  the  president  of  the  United  States,  on  or 
before  the  fourth  Monday  in  November  next,  an  authentic  copy  of  the  said 
act ;  upon  the  receipt  whereof,  the  president,  by  proclamation,  shall  announce 
the  fact ;  whereupon,  and  without  any  further  proceedings  on  the  part  of 
Congress,  the  admission  of  the  said  state  into  the  Union  shall  be  considered 
as  complete :  And  provided,  further,  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall 
be  construed  to  take  from  the  state  of  Missouri,  when  admitted  into  the 
Union,  the  exercise  of  any  right  or  power  which  can  now  be  constitutionally 
exercised  by  any  of  the  original  states." 

In  defence  of  his  report,  Mr.  Clay  said  that,  although  those 


92  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

favorable  to  the  admission  of  Missouri  could  not  succeed  entirely 
in  their  particular  views,  yet  he  was  of  opinion  that  they  had,  as 
regarded  the  report  of  the  committee,  nothing  to  complain  of. 
At  the  same  time,  the  report  was  calculated  to  obviate  the  objec 
tions  of  those  who  had  opposed  the  admission  of  Missouri  on  the 
ground  of  the  objection  to  her  constitution  which  had  been  avow 
ed.  Thus  consulting  the  opinions  of  both  sides  of  the  house,  in 
that  spirit  of  compromise  which  is  occasionally  necessary  to  the 
existence  of  all  societies,  he  hoped  it  would  receive  the  counte- 

»  nance  of  the  house  ;  and  he  earnestly  invoked  the  spirit  of  har 
mony  and  kindred  feeling  to  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  the 
«  house  on  the  subject. 

The  question  being  taken  in  committee  of  the  whole  on  the 
f  amendment  proposed  by  Mr.  Clay,  it  was  decided  in  the  negative 
I  by  a  vote  of  73  to  64.  This  decision  was  afterward  overruled 
in  the  house.  On  the  question,  however,  of  the  third  reading  of 
the  resolution,  it  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of  83  to  80,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  defection  of  Mr.  Randolph  of  Virginia,  who  dread 
ed  the  increase  of  popularity  which  would  accrue  to  Mr.  Clay 
by  the  success  of  his  proposition.  A  reconsideration  was  moved 
and  carried  the  next  day,  and  the  question  of  the  third  reading 
was  again  brought  before  the  house.  Another  protracted  and 
bitter  debate  followed,  and  was  concluded  by  a  speech  of  an 
hour's  duration  from  Mr.  Clay,  who  is  represented  by  the  cotem- 
porary  journals  as  having  "  reasoned,  remonstrated,  and  entreated 
that  the  house  would  settle  the  question." 

On  the  fourteenth  of  February,  the  two  houses  of  Congress 
met  in  the  hall  of  the  house  of  representatives,  to  perform  the 
ceremony  of  counting  the  votes  for  president  and  vice-president 
of  the  United  States.  A  scene  of  great  confusion  occurred  when 
the  votes  of  the  electors  for  Missouri  were  announced  by  the 
president  of  the  senate,  and  handed  to  the  tellers.  The  mem 
bers  of  the  senate  withdrew,  and  a  violent  discussion  sprang  up. 
By  the  exertions  of  Mr.  Clay  order  was  at  length  restored,  and, 
on  his  motion,  a  message  was  sent  to  the  senate  that  the  house 
was  ready  to  proceed  to  the  completion  of  the  business  of  count 
ing  the  votes. 

The  senate  again  came  in.     The  votes  of  Missouri  were  read, 


ADOPTION    OF    THE    MISSOURI    COMPROMISE.  93 

and  the  result  of  all  the  votes  having  been  read,  it  was  announced 
by  the  president  of  the  senate,  that  the  total  number  of  votes  for 
James  Monroe  as  President  of  the  United  States,  was  231,  and, 
if  the  votes  of  Missouri  were  not  counted,  was  228 ;  that,  in 
either  event,  James  Monroe  had  a  majority  of  the  whole  number 
of  votes  given.  James  Monroe  was  accordingly  re-elected  pres 
ident  for  four  years,  commencing  on  the  ensuing  fourth  of  March. 

While  the  proclamation  was  being  made,  two  members  of  the 
house  claimed  the  floor  to  inquire  whether  the  votes  of  Missouri 
were  or  were  not  counted.  Another  scene  of  confusion  here 
upon  ensued,  and  the  house  were  finally  obliged  to  adjourn  in 
order  to  put  an  end  to  it. 

The  rejection  of  Mr.  Clay's  report  seemed  to  shut  out  all  pros 
pect  of  an  amicable  compromise.     He  was  not  disheartened,  how 
ever.     He  never  despaired  of  the   republic.     On  the  twenty- 
second  of  February,  he  submitted  the  following  resolution  : — 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed,  on  the  part  of  this  house, 
jointly  with  such  committee  as  may  be  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  senate, 
to  consider  and  report  to  the  senate  and  to  the  house,  respectively,  whether 
it  be  expedient  or  not  to  make  provision  for  the  admission  of  Missouri  into 
the  Union  on  the  same  footing  as  the  original  states,  and  for  the  due  execu 
tion  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  within  Missouri ;  and  if  not,  whether 
any  other,  and  what  provision,  adapted  to  her  actual  condition,  ought  to  be 
made  by  law." 

This  resolution  was  adopted  in  the  house  by  a  vote  of  103  to 
55.  The  senate  acceded  to  it  by  a  large  majority. 

The  joint  committees  of  the  two  houses  met  on  the  twenty-fifth 
of  February,  1821  ;  and  a  plan  of  accommodation,  proposed  by 
Mr.  Clay,  was  adopted,  unanimously  on  the  part  of  the  commit 
tee  of  the  senate,  and  nearly  so  by  that  of  the  house.  The  next 
day  he  reported  to  the  house  from  the  committee  a  resolution, 
which  was  the  same  in  effect  as  that  which  we  have  already 
quoted  as  having  been  reported  by  the  former  committee  of  thir 
teen  members.  A  short  discussion  ensued,  which  was  checked 
by  a  call  for  the  previous  question.  The  resolution  was  then 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  eighty-seven  to  eighty-one.  The  senate 
concurred,  and  the  momentous  question,  which  for  three  ses 
sions  had  agitated  Congress,  was,  at  length,  through  the  labors 
of  Henry  Clay,  peaceably  settled. 


94  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

The  achievement  of  this  vital  compromise  must  have  been  one 
of  the  most  gratifying  triumphs  of  his  political  career.  By  his 
personal  influence  and  abilities,  he  had  saved  the  republic.  He 
deservedly  won  on  this  occasion  the  appropriate  title  of  "  the 
Great  Pacificator  ;"  for  to  his  individual  exertions  do  we  owe  it, 
that  we  were  saved  from  the  prospect  of  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  His  efforts  in  and  out  of  Congress  were  unceasing  in 
accomplishing  his  object.  He  made  direct  personal  appeals  to 
those  whom  he  could  not  influence  in  public  debate,  and  left  no 
means  untried  for  bringing  Congress  to  that  harmonious  state, 
which  was  essential  to  the  safety  of  the  country. 

While  the  Missouri  question  was  pending,  and  the  excitement 
of  the  contending  parties  was  running  to  a  great  and  alarming 
height,  Mr.  Randolph,  and  perhaps  some  other  gentlemen  of  the 
south,  conceived  the  project  of  the  whole  delegation  from  the 
slaveholding  states,  in  a  body,  abandoning  the  house,  and  leaving 
its  business  to  be  carried  on,  if  at  all,  by  the  representatives 
from  the  other  states.  At  that  time,  one  of  those  conditions  of 
non-intercourse,  which  we  have  described,  existed  between  hin 
and  Mr.  Clay  ;  but  notwithstanding  that,  one  night  when  the 
house  was  in  session  by  candlelight,  Mr.  Clay  being  out  of  the 
chair,  Mr.  Randolph  approached  him  in  the  most  courteous  man 
ner,  and  said  :  "  Mr.  Speaker,  I  wish  you  would  leave  the  chair. 
I  will  follow  you  to  Kentucky,  or  anywhere  else  in  the  world." 

Mr.  Clay  replied  :  "  That  is  a  very  serious  proposition,  Mr. 
Randolph  ;  we  have  not  time  now  to  discuss  it ;  but  if  you  will 
come  into  the  speaker's  room  to-morrow  morning,  before  the 
house  assembles,  we  will  consider  it  together." 

He  accordingly  attended  there  with  punctuality.  They  re 
mained  in  earnest  conversation  about  an  hour,  Mr.  Clay  contending 
that  it  was  wisest  to  compromise  the  question,  if  it  could  be  done 
without  any  sacrifice  of  principle,  and  Mr.  Randolph  insisting 
that  the  slave  states  had  the  right  on  their  side  ;  that  matters 
must  come  to  an  extremity ;  and  that  there  could  be  no  more 
suitable  occasion  to  bring  them  to  that  issue.  They  maintained 
their  respective  opinions  firmly  but  amicably,  without  coming  to 
any  agreement. 

When  they  were  about  separating,  Mr.  Clay  observed  to  Mr 


INTERVIEW    WITH    RANDOLPH.  95 

Randolph,  that  he  would  take  that  opportunity  of  saying  to  him, 
that  he  (Mr.  Randolph)  had  used  exceptionable  language  some 
times  when  the  speaker  was  in  the  chair  and  had  no  opportunity 
of  replying ;  and  that  he  was  often  provoked  thereat.  "  Well. 
Mr.  Speaker,"  said  Mr.  Randolph,  "  I  think  you  sometimes  neg 
iect  me  ;  you  won't  listen  to  me  when  I  am  addressing  the 
chair,  but  turn  your  head  away,  and  ask  for  a  pinch  of  snuff." 

Mr.  Clay  rejoined  :  "  You  are  mistaken.  I  am  listening  when 
I  may  not  seem  to  be  ;  and  I  can  repeat  as  much  of  any  one  of 
your  late  speeches  as  you  yourself  can,  good  as  I  know  your 
memory  to  be." 

"  Well,"  replied  Mr.  Randolph,  "  perhaps  I  am  mistaken ;  and 
suppose  we  shake  hands  and  be  good  friends  hereafter." 

"  Agreed  !"  said  Mr.  Clay. 

They  shook  hands  accordingly,  and  never  spoke  with  each 
other  during  the  residue  of  the  session.  It  was  about  the  period 
of  Commodore  Decatur's  death.  That,  event  greatly  excited  Mr. 
Randolph,  and  Mr.  Clay  was  informed  by  two  different  gentle 
men  (the  late  Governor  Edwards  and  Gen.  C.  F.  Mercer)  about 
the  same  time,  without  concert,  and  shortly  after  the  interview 
described  above,  that  they  knew  that  Mr.  Randolph  desired  a 
duel,  and  with  him  (Mr.  Clay).  He  thanked  them  for  the  com 
munication  ;  which  was  made  from  friendly  motives.  It  natur 
ally  put  him  upon  his  guard,  and  on  first  meeting  Mr.  Randolph, 
thinking  that  he  saw  something  unfriendly  in  his  deportment, 
they  passed  each  other  without  speaking. 

Shortly  before  the  interview  above-mentioned,  Mr.  Randolph 
came  to  Mr.  Clay  with  an  insulting  letter  containing  a  threat  to 
horsewhip  him  (Mr.  Randolph),  and  asked  what  he  should  do 
with  it  —  should  he  communicate  it  to  the  house  as  a  breach 
of  privilege.  "  How  came  the  writer  to  address  such  a  letter 
to  you  ?"  asked  Mr.  Clay. — "  Why,  sir,"  said  he,  "  I  was  in  the 
vestibule  of  the  house,  the  other  day,  and  he  brought  up  a  man 
and  introduced  him  to  me.  I  asked  him  what  right  he  had  to 
introduce  that  man  to  me,  and  told  him  that  the  man  had  just  as 
much  right  to  introduce  him  to  me.  And  he  said  he  thought 
it  was  an  act  of  great  impertinence.  It  \«as  for  that  cause 
he  has  written  me  this  threatening  letter."  Mr.  Clay  asked 


96  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

him  if  he  thought  the  man's  mind  was  perfectly  sound.  "  Why," 
replied  Mr.  Randolph,  "  I  have  some  doubts  about  that." — "  If 
that  be  the  case,''  said  Mr.  Clay,  "  would  you  not  better  avoid 
troubling  the  house  about  the  affair  ?  And  I  will  give  orders  to 
the  officers  of  the  house  to  keep  an  eye  on  the  man,  and  if  he 
should  attempt  to  do  anything  improper  to  arrest  him."  Mr. 
Randolph  said,  it  was  perhaps  the  best  course,  and  nothing  more 
was  heard  of  the  matter. 

On  one  occasion,  during  the  agitation  of  this  same  Missouri 
question,  Mr.  Randolph  told  Mr.  Clay,  that  he  had  resolved,  by 
the  advice  of  Chief- Justice  Marshall,  to  abstain  from  the  use  of 
those  powerful  instruments  of  irony,  sarcasm,  and  invective,  which 
he  used  with  such  cutting  effect,  and  to  confine  himself  to  the 
employment  of  pure  argument,  whenever  he  spoke.  He  at 
tempted  it.  He  failed.  His  speech  possessed  no  attraction — 
commanded  no  attention.  He  was  mortified,  and  resumed  his  an 
cient  style  ;  and  listening  and  admiring  audiences  returned  to  him. 

When  the  house  sat  in  what  has  been  called  the  old  capitol 
(the  brick  building  at  the  northeast  corner  of  the  capitol-square), 
Mr.  Randolph  one  day  came  in  collision  with  an  able  colleague 
from  Virginia,  Mr.  Sheffey,  in  argument,  in  course  of  which  Mr. 
Sheffey  had  indulged  in  some  playful  remark.  Mr.  R.  replied, 
and  concluded  by  offering  him  some  advice,  which,  he  said,  he 
hoped  would  be  kindly  received  :  and  that  was,  that  logic  being  his 
(Mr.  Sheffey's)  forte,  he  ought  to  confine  himself  to  it,  and  never 
attempt  wit,  for  which  he  possessed  no  talent.  Mr.  Sheffey  re 
joined,  answered  the  argument  of  Mr.  Randolph,  and  thanked  him 
for  his  advice,  but  said  he  did  not  like  to  be  in  debt,  and,  by  way 
of  acquitting  himself  of  it,  he  begged  leave  to  offer  some  advice 
in  return.  Nature,  he  said,  had  been  bountiful  to  Mr.  R.  in  be 
stowing  on  him  extraordinary  wit,  but  had  denied  him  any  powers 
of  argument.  Mr.  S.  would  advise  him,  therefore,  to  confine 
himself  to  the  regions  of  wit,  and  never  attempt  to  soar  into  those 
of  logic.  Mr.  R.  immediately  followed,  and  handsomely  re 
marked,  that  he  took  back  what  he  had  said  of  his  colleague  ;  for 
he  had  shown  himself  to  be  a  man  of  wit  as  well  as  of  logic. 

It  was  a  pleasant*  and  enlivening  incident,  and  the  whole  house 
and  both  parties  appeared  to  enjoy  the  joke  But  Mr.  Randolph 


KENTUCKY    LAND    CLAIMS.  97 

returned  to  the  house  the  next  day,  and  renewed  the  attack  with 
great  bitterness.  The  parties  had  various  and  long  passes  at  each 
other.  Mr.  R.  was  repeatedly  called  to  order  by  Mr.  Clay,  and 
finally  stopped.  It  was  on  that  occasion  that,  Mr.  Sheffey  being 
called  to  order,  Mr.  Clay  said  that  he  would  be  out  of  order  in 
replying,  as  he  was,  to  any  other  member  but  Mr.  Randolph. 

During  the  interval  of  his  retirement  from  Congress,  in  1822, 
Mr.  Clay  was  delegated,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Bibb,  to  attend 
the  Virginia  legislature,  for  the  adjustment  of  certain  land  claims 
in  Kentucky.  The  house  of  representatives  of  Virginia  ap 
pointed  a  day  to  receive  and  hear  them  at  the  bar  of  the  house. 
The  subject  to  be  discussed,  was  what  were  called  the  "  occupy 
ing  claimant  laws"  of  Kentucky  ;  in  other  words,  laws  passed  in 
behalf  of  the  early  settlers,  the  pioneers  of  the  new  state.  The 
vicious  system  which  Virginia  had  adopted,  of  disposing  of  her 
waste  and  unappropriated  lands,  had  led  to  the  most  frightful  con 
fusion  and  uncertainty  of  title.  No  man  was  sure  of  his  home 
and  lands,  no  matter  how  long  he  had  occupied,  or  how  greatly 
he  had  improved  them.  Some  dormant  adverse  title  might  spring 
up  and  evict  him  from  his  residence.  Those  "  occupying  claim 
ant  laws"  were  passed  to  secure  to  him  the  fruits  of  his  toil  and 
labor,  by  compelling  the  successful  claimant  to  pay  the  value  of 
all  permanent  improvements.  In  principle,  these  laws  were 
right,  although  they  were  liable  to  great  abuse,  through  a  sympa 
thy  with  the  actual  settler,  which  often  led  the  assessor  to  place 
an  extravagant  estimate  upon  the  improvements. 

The  validity  of  these  laws  was  contested,  and  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States  had  pronounced  a  decision  against 
them.  Whether  they  were  valid  or  not,  depended  upon  the  true 
interpretation  of  a  compact  between  the  states  of  Virginia  and 
Kentucky,  made  at  the  time  the  latter  was  erected  into  a  separate 
commonwealth.  The  object  of  the  mission  of  Messrs.  Clay  and 
Bibb,  was  to  prevail  on  the  parent  state  to  consent  to  the  estab 
lishment  of  some  impartial  tribunal  other  than  the  supreme  court 
to  be  constituted  by  the  joint  consent  of  the  two  states,  to  decide 
the  question  of  validity.  It  was  to  accomplish  this  object,  that 
the  negotiators  appeared  before  the  legislature. 

Their  mission  had  excited  much  sensation  and  curiosity.  The 
E  7 


98  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

city  of  Richmond  was  crowded  by  persons  attracted  to  it  by  th 
novelty  of  the  scene.  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  left  it,  some  twenty 
five  years  before,  a  poor  orphan  boy,  and  now  found  himself  amid 
the  remnant  of  his  early  associates,  trembled  lest  he  should  not 
appear  to  advantage.  The  day  for  his  presenting  himself  before 
the  house  at  length  arrived.  The  hall  was  crowded.  The  judges 
of  the  court  of  appeals,  among  whom  was  the  eminent  Spencer 
Roane,  who,  in  1797,  had  signed  Mr.  Clay's  license — the  mem 
bers  of  the  bar  generally,  and  of  the  senate,  with  many  distin 
guished  citizens,  composed  the  audience.  In  the  presence  of  this 
intellectual  multitude,  Mr.  Clay  rose  to  address  the  house  of 
delegates.  He  described  the  hardships  and  sufferings  of  the 
early  adventurers  and  settlers  in  Kentucky  :  how  they  had  en 
countered  and  subdued  the  savages,  felled  the  forests,  built  for 
themselves  habitations,  and,  amid  the  greatest  privations,  culti 
vated  the  earth,  with  the  rifle  as  near  at  hand  as  the  spade  and 
the  plough.  He  painted  in  glowing  and  pathetic  terms  the  sacri 
fices  they  had  made  in  abandoning  the  homes  of  their  fathers, 
the  tombs  of  their  ancestors,  the  friends  of  their  youth.  Mr. 
Clay  had  himself  recently  been  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  place 
which  gave  him  birth,  and  the  visit  and  his  early  recollections, 
probably  imparted  a  deeper  and  more  solemn  intensity  to  his  feel 
ings  and  language.  The  whole  assembly  was  gazing  on  him 
with  fixed  attention.  You  could  have  heard  a  pin  drop  in  the 
pauses  of  his  speech,  such  was  the  stillness.  Nearly  all  his 
hearers  were  in  tears.  At  this  interesting  juncture,  Mr.  Clay 
attempted  the  quotation  of  a  passage  from  the  poems  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  now  familiar  to  every  schoolboy,  but  then  new  to 
most  of  his  audience.  The  words  had  fled  from  his  memory ! 
He  stood  filled  with  emotion,  and  at  the  same  time  transfixed 
with  deep,  though  imperceptible  embarrassment,  at  the  treacherous 
trick  which  his  memory  was  serving  him.  He  threw  his  right 
hand  upon  his  forehead,  as  if  overwhelmed  by  his  feelings,  and 
remained  in  that  posture  so  long,  that  he  has  been  heard  to  say 
that  he  was  actually  meditating  upon  some  mode  of  escape  from 
his  dilemma.  Fortunately,  however,  the  words  came  to  his 
relief,  and  in  his  full-toned,  melodious  voice,  he  gave  them 
forth:  — 


AGAIN  ELECTED  SPEAKER.  99 

Breathes  there  a  man  with  soul  so  dead, 
That  never  to  himself  has  said, 
1  This  is  my  own,  my  native  land !' " 

The  effect  upon  the  audience  was  electrical  and  transporting  — 
far  transcending  what  it  would  have  been  if  his  memory  had  not 
balked  at  all. 

The  mission  of  Messrs.  Clay  and  Bibb,  led  to  the  appointment 
of  the  Hon.  B.  W.  Leigh  on  the  part  of  Virginia  ;  and  Mr.  Clay 
was  subsequently  appointed  to  conduct  the  negotiation  with  the 
latter  on  the  part  of  Kentucky.  They  concluded  at  Ashland  a 
convention,  which,  though  it  was  ratified  by  the  legislature  of 
Kentucky  and  the  house  of  delegates  of  Virginia,  was  finally  re 
jected  in  the  senate  of  the  latter  state. 

By  an  absence  of  nearly  three  years  from  Congress,  Mr.  Clay 
was  enabled,  through  his  professional  labors,  to  retrieve  his  pri 
vate  affairs  ;  and,  in  the  summer  of  1823,  at  the  earnest  and  re 
peated  solicitations  of  his  fellow-citizens,  he  accepted  a  renomi- 
nation,  and  was  again  chosen,  without  opposition,  to  represent  his 
district  in  the  lower  house  at  Washington. 

The  first  session  of  the  eighteenth  Congress  opened  the  first 
Monday  in  December,  1823.  At  the  first  ballot  for  speaker,  in 
the  house  of  representatives,  Mr.  Clay  was  elected.  Mr.  Barbour, 
of  Virginia,  the  late  speaker,  had  forty-two  votes  —  Mr.  Clay  had 
one  hundred  and  thirty -nine.  The  following  neat  jeu  d*  esprit 
appeared  in  the  National  Intelligencer  shortly  after  the  election  • 

"  As  near  the  Potomac's  broad  stream,  t'  other  day, 

Fair  LIBERTY  strolled  in  solicitous  mood, 
Deep  pondering  the  future — unheeding  her  way — 

She  met  goddess  NATURE  beside  a  green  wood. 
'Good  mother,'  she  cried,  'deign  to  help  me  at  need! 
I  must  make  for  my  guardians  a  speaker  to  day : 
The  first  in  the  world  I  would  give  them.' —  'Indeed ! 
When  I  made  the  first  speaker,  I  made  him  of  CLAY  !' " 

On  taking  the  speaker's  chair,  Mr.  Clay  made  a  brief  and  ap 
propriate  address,  in  which  he  returned  his  acknowledgments  for 
the  honor  conferred.  The  duties  of  a  speaker  are  happily 
enumerated  in  his  remarks  on  this  occasion. 

On  the  5th  of  December,  Mr.  Webster,  of  Massachusetts,  sub- 


100 


LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 


mitted  a  resolution  providing  by  law  for  defraying  the  expense 
incident  to  the  appointment  of  an  agent  or  commissioner  to  Greece, 
whenever  the  president  should  deem  it  expedient  to  make  such 
appointment.  He  supported  this  proposition  in  a  most  able  speech, 
on  the  19th  of  the  ensuing  January.  Mr.  Clay  stood  side  by  side 
ivith  him  in  defence  of  the  measure.  Notwithstanding  the  advo 
cacy  of  these  gigantic  champions,  however,  it  failed  in  the 
louse. 

Mr.  Clay's  speech  on  the  subject,  though  brief,  was  full  of  fire 
md  point. 

"  Are  we,"  he  exclaimed,  "  so  humbled,  so  low,  so  debased,  that  we  dare 
lot  express  our  sympathy  for  suffering  Greece,  that  we  dare  not  articulate 
>ur  detestation  of  the  brutal  excesses  of  which  she  has  been  the  bleeding 
victim,  lest  we  might  offend  some  one  or  more  of  their  imperial  and  royal 
majesties  ?" 

Although  Mr.  Clay  failed  at  the  moment  in  procuring  the  rec 
ognition  of  Greece,  he  afterward,  when  secretary  of  state, 
accomplished  his  object.  The  United  States  was  the  first  inde 
pendent  power  by  whom  she  was  recognised. 

Mr.  Clay's  labors,  during  the  session  of  1824,  would  alone 
have  been  sufficient  to  make  his  name  memorable,  to  the  latest 
posterity,  in  the  annals  of  the  country.  The  session  is  signalized 
by  the  passage  of  the  tariff  bill,  and  of  his  measure  in  behalf  of 
South  American  independence.  In  reference  to  the  former,  it 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  it  was  through  his  vigilant  and  per 
severing  efforts,  that  the  SUGAR  DUTY  was  saved.  A  member 
from  Louisiana,  by  his  constant  and  bitter  opposition  to  the  pro 
tective  policy,  had  greatly  incensed  its  friends.  They  were 
provoked  by  his  pertinacity,  and,  in  committee  of  the  whole,  struck 
out  the  item  of  sugar  from  the  list  of  protected  articles.  Mr. 
Clay  remonstrated  with  them.  He  urged  that  the  state  ought  not 
to  be  injured,  and  that  it  would  be  cruel  to  punish  it  for  the  sup 
posed  misconduct  of  one  of  its  representatives.  He  entreated 
them,  therefore,  to  restore  the  protective  duty  on  sugar,  and  finally 
prevailed  on  them,  by  personal  appeals  to  individual  members,  to 
restore  it  accordingly  in  the  house. 

On  the  15th  of  August,  1824,  General  Lafayette,  the  nation's 
guest,  arrived  at  New  York,  in  the  Cadmus,  accompanied  by  his 
son  George  Washington  Lafayette.  The  following  10th  of 


FRIENDSHIP    OF    LAFAYETTE.  tOl 

December,  he  was  introduced  to  the  house  of  representatives  by 
a  select  committee,  appointed  for  the  purpose.  Mr.  Clay,  as 
speaker,  received  him  with  a  pertinent  and  elegant  address.  La 
fayette  was  deeply  affected  by  this  address,  uttered,  as  it  was, 
in  the  speaker's  clear,  musical,  and  genial  tones  ;  and  the  hero 
of  two  hemispheres  replied  to  it  in  a  manner  that  betokened  much 
emotion. 

This  distinguished  friend  of  America  and  of  liberty,  main 
tained,  to  the  end  of  his  days,  an  unwavering  attachment  for  Mr. 
Clay  ;  and  when  the  miserable  cry  of  "  bargain  and  corruption" 
was  raised  against  the  latter,  at  the  time  of  his  acceptance  of  the 
office  of  secretary  of  state,  Lafayette  gave  his  conclusive  testi 
mony  in  favor  of  the  integrity,  ingenuousness,  and  public  virtue 
of  his  friend,  and  in  vindication  of  him  from  the  charges  which 
partisan  hacks  had  originated. 

"  THAT  is  THE  MAN  WHOM  I  HOPE  TO  SEE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES,"  said  Lafayette,  in  1832,  pointing  to  a  portrait 
of  Mr.  Clay,  in  presence  of  an  officer  of  the  United  States  navy, 
who  was  entertained  by  the  great  and  good  Frenchman  at  his 
country-seat.  The  anecdote  here  given,  may  be  found  in  the 
"  Commonwealth"  newspaper  published  at  Frankfort,  Kentucky. 

We  have  seen  that  Mr.  Clay  was  at  variance  with  President 
Monroe  upon  the  subject  of  internal  improvements,  as  well  as  in 
regard  to  the  mode  of  recognising  the  independence  of  the  South 
American  patriots.  Notwithstanding  these  differences  of  opinion, 
the  personal  relations  of  the  speaker  and  the  chief  magistrate 
were  friendly.  Mr.  Clay  was  offered  a  seat  in  the  cabinet,  and 
a  carte  blanche  of  all  the  foreign  missions.  JHad  place  been  his 
ambition  and  his  object,  he  might  have  attained  it  without  any 
sacrifice  of  independence — without  any  loss  of  position  as  the 
acknowledged  head  of  the  great  republican  party.  He  saw, 
however,  that  he  could  be  more  useful  to  his  country  in  Con- 
g^ess.  Measures  of  vital  importance  were  to  be  carried.  The 
tariff  was  to  be  adjusted — the  Missouri  business  to  be  settled— 
the  constitutionality  of  internal  improvements  was  to  be  ad 
mitted —  South  American  independence  was  to  be  acknowledged 
—how  could  he  conscientiously  quit  a  post  where  he  wielded 
an  influence  more  potent  than  the  president  s,  while  such  mo 


102  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

mentous  questions  remained  open  ?  These  being  disposed  of,  he 
would  be  at  liberty  to  pursue  any  course  which  his  inclinations 
might  indicate,  or  which  the  public  interests  might  sanction. 


VIII. 

PRESIDENTIAL    ELECTION    OF    1824. 

As  Mr.  Monroe's  second  presidential  term  drew  to  a  close,  the 
•juestion  of  the  next  presidency  began  to  be  busily  agitated. 
Four  prominent  candidates  were  presented  by  their  friends  for 
*he  suffrages  of  the  people :  being  John  Quincy  Adams  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  Andrew  Jackson  of  Tennessee,  Henry  Clay  of  Ken- 
'ucky,  and  William  H.  Crawford  of  Georgia. 

In  November,  1822,  Mr.  Clay  had  been  nominated  as  a  suit 
able  successor  to  James  Monroe,  at  a  meeting  of  the  members 
<>f  the  legislature  of  Kentucky.  The  nomination  soon  after  met 
with  a  response  from  similar  meetings  in  Louisiana,  Missouri, 
and  Ohio ;  and,  as  the  period  of  the  election  approached,  he  was 
failed  by  large  bodies  of  his  fellow-citizens  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  as  their  favorite  candidate. 

The  campaign  of  1824  was  one  of  the  most  warmly-contested 
in  our  annals.  Some  of  the  more  unscrupulous  of  the  friends  of 
the  various  candidates  resorted  to  manoeuvres  unworthy  of  their 
cause  to  advance  their  ends.  Just  as  the  election  was  commen 
cing,  a  report  was  industriously  circulated  in  different  quarters 
of  the  country  that  Mr.  Clay  had  withdrawn  from  the  presiden 
tial  contest.  In  consequence  of  this  report,  General  William 
H.  Harrison,  and  other  of  Mr.  Clay's  friends  in  Ohio,  pub 
lished  a  declaration,  in  which  it  was  asserted  that  he  (Mr.  Clay) 
"  would  not  be  withdrawn  from  the  contest  but  by  the  fiat  of  his 
Maker."  Our  late  lamented  chief  magistrate  was  at  that  time, 
and  ever  after,  his  devoted  political,  as  well  as  personal  friend  ; 
and  he  has  often  been  heard  to  declare  his  preference  for  him 
over  all  other  candidates. 


THE    KREMER    CALUMNY.  103 

Early  in  the  campaign  it  was  discovered  that  there  would  be 
no  election  of  president  by  the  people.  By  the  constitution,  the 
house  of  representatives  would,  therefore,  be  called  upon  to 
choose  from  the  three  highest  cadidates.  In  December,  1824, 
soon  after  the  meeting  of  Congress,  it  was  known  that  the  three 
highest  candidates  were  Jackson,  Adams,  and  Crawford,  and  that 
Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  would  have  it  in  their  power,  when  the 
question  came  before  the  house,  of  turning  the  balance  in  favor 
of  any  one  of  the  three. 

Mr.  Clay's  position  was  now  an  extremely  important  one.  Sev 
eral  weeks  were  to  intervene  before  the  election ;  and,  in  the  mean 
time,  the  partisans  of  the  three  candidates  looked  with  intense 
anxiety  to  the  speaker's  course.  His  preferences  were  distinctly 
known  to  his  personal  friends,  for  he  had  expressed  them  in  his 
letters  and  his  conversations  ;  but  it  would  have  been  indelicate 
and  superfluous  for  him  to  have  electioneered  in  behalf  of  any 
one  of  the  rival  candidates  —  to  have  given  occasion  for  intrigues 
and  coalitions  by  deciding  the  question  in  advance. 

While  all  parties  were  in  this  state  of  suspense,  a  gross  and 
unprincipled  attempt  was  made  to  browbeat  Mr.  Clay,  and  drive 
him  from  what  was  rightly  supposed  to  be  his  position  of  pref 
erence  for  Mr.  Adams.  A  letter,  the  authorship  of  which  was 
afterward  avowed  by  George  Kremer,  a  member  of  the  house 
from  Pennsylvania,  appeared  in  a  Philadelphia  newspaper  called 
the  "  Columbian  Observer,"  charging  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends 
with  the  most  flagitious  intentions  —  in  short  with  the  design  of 
selling  their  vote  to  the  highest  bidder. 

Monstrous  as  were  these  intimations,  they  were  calculated  to 
carry  some  weight  with  the  ignorant  and  unreflecting.  By  such 
persons,  it  would  not  be  taken  into  consideration  that  Mr.  Clay 
had  already  declined  offices  of  the  highest  grade  under  Madison 
and  Monroe — that,  if  either  Jackson  or  Crawford  had  been 
elected  through  his  agency,  the  first  office  in  the  gift  of  either 
would  indubitably  have  been  offered  to  him — that,  in  accepting 
office  under  Mr.  Adams,  it  was  universally  understood  at  Wash- 
rngton,  he  was  conferring  rather  than  receiving  a  favor — that  he 
might  not  inaptly  have  been  accused  of  acting  an  ungenerous 
if,  after  bringing  the  Adams  administration  into  power,  ha 


]04  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

had  refused  it  the  countenance  so  essential  to  its  success  —  th-,1 
he  would  have  neglected  the  solicitations  of  all  who  acted  with 
him  from  the  west  had  he  refused  the  secretaryship  —  and,  in 
short,  that  in  order  to  justify  his  vote  it  was  incumbent  on  him. 
to  submit  to  the  united  voice  of  the  friends  of  the  new  adminis 
tration,  and  bring  to  it  as  much  of  his  western  strength  as  he 
could  lend. 

The  "  Columbian  Observer,"  in  which  the  precious  epistle  we 
have  alluded  to  appeared,  was  a  print  sustained  by  Mr.  Eaton,  the 
friend,  biographer,  and  colleague  in  the  senate  of  General  Jackson. 
The  position  of  the  writer  of  the  letter,  as  a  member  of  Congress, 
gave  it  a  consequence  which,  utterly  contemptible  as  it  is,  it  would 
not  otherwise,  in  any  degree,  have  possessed.  Mr.  Clay  deem 
ed  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  notice  it ;  and  he  published  a  card 
in  the  National  Intelligencer,  pronouncing  the  author  of  the  let 
ter,  whoever  he  might  be,  "  a  base  and  infamous  calumniator." 
This  was  answered  by  a  card  from  Mr.  George  Kremer,  in 
which  the  writer  said  he  held  himself  ready  to  prove,  to  the  sat 
isfaction  of  unprejudiced  minds,  enough  to  satisfy  them  of  the 
accuracy  of  the  statements  in  the  letter,  so  far  as  Mr.  Clay  was 
concerned. 

The  calumny  having  been  thus  fathered,  Mr.  Clay  rose  in  his 
place  in  the  house,  and  demanded  an  investigation  into  the  affair 

A  committee  was  accordingly  appointed  by  ballot  on  the  5th 
of  February,  1835.  It  was  composed  of  some  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  house,  not  one  of  whom  was  Mr.  Clay's  political 
friend.  Although  Mr.  Kremer  had  declared  to  the  house  and  to 
the  public  his  willingness  to  bring  forward  his  proofs,  and  his 
readiness  to  abide  the  issue  of  the  inquiry,  his  fears,  or  other 
counsels  than  his  own,  prevailed  upon  him  to  resort  finally  to  & 
miserable  subterfuge.  The  committee  reported  that  Mr.  Kremer 
declined  appearing  before  them,  alleging  that  he  could  not  do  so 
without  appearing  either  as  an  accuser  or  a  witness,  both  of  which 
he  protested  against  /" 

And  yet,  this  same  Mr.  Kremer,  a  day  or  two  before,  when 
the  subject  of  appointing  an  investigating  committee  came  up, 
had  risen  in  his  seat  in  the  house,  and  said :  "  If,  upon  an  in 
vestigation  being  instituted,  it  should  appear  that  he  had  not  suf- 


CANVASS  OF  THE  ELECTORAL  VOTES.          105 

ficient  reasons  to  justify  the  statements  he  had  made,  he  trusted 
he  should  receive  the  marked  reprobation  which  had  been  sug 
gested  by  the  speaker.  Let  it  fall  where  it  might,  Mr.  Kremer 
said,  he  was  willing  to  meet  the  inquiry,  and  abide  the  result.''1 

But  it  is  not  on  Mr.  Kremer  alone  that  our  indignation  should 
be  expended  for  this  miserable  attempt  to  bolster  up  a  profligate 
calumny  just  long  enough  for  it  to  operate  on  the  approaching 
election.  He  was  merely  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  deeper  knaves. 
A  thick-headed,  illiterate,  foolish,  good-natured  man,  he  was 
ready,  in  his  blind  attachment  to  General  Jackson,  to  do  any 
servile  deed  that  might  propitiate  his  idol.  He  seems  to  have 
inwardly  repented  of  the  act  as  soon  as  it  had  been  committed. 
He  frequently  declared  his  determination  to  offer  an  explanation 
and  apology  to  Mr.  Clay ;  and  had  gone  so  far  as  to  draw  up  a 
paper  for  that  purpose,  which  was  submitted  to  the  latter.  But 
Mr.  Clay  replied  that  the  affair  had  passed  from  his  control  into 
that  of  the  house  ;  —  and  the  rogues,  who  had  taken  Mr.  Kremer 
into  their  keeping,  were  careful  not  to  allow  him  to  repeat  his 
offer  of  an  apology  subsequently  when  the  house  chose  to  let  the 
matter  drop. 

In  1827-'28,  Mr.  Clay,  in  an  address  to  his  constituents,  gave 
a  full  and  interesting  history  of  this  affair,  together  with  the 
sequel,  at  which  we  shall  glance  in  our  next  chapter,  and  in  which 
General  Jackson  figured  conspicuously. 

On  the  9th  of  February,  1825,  in  the  presence  of  both  houses 
of  Congress,  Mr.  Tazewell,  from  the  committee  of  tellers,  re 
ported  the  votes  of  the  different  states  for  president  and  vice- 
president  of  the  United  States.  The  aggregate  was  as  follows : 
John  Quincy  Adams  had  eighty-four  votes  ;  William  H.  Craw 
ford,  forty-one  ;  Andrew  Jackson,  ninety-nine  ;  and  Henry  Clay, 
thirty-seven* — the  latter  having  been  deprived,  by  party  intrigue 

*  The  vote  of  Mr.  Clay  in  the  primary  colleges  stood :  Ohio,  16 ;  Kentucky,  14 ;  New 
York,  4  ;  Missouri,  3.  It  will  be  seen  that  Missouri  gave  her  entire  vote  to  Mr.  Clay,  in 
1824,  at  which  time  THOMAS  H.  BENTON  took  the  lead  in  his  support,  as  the  candidate  most 
favorable  to  Internal  Improvements  and  the  Protection  of  American  Industry. 

Mr.  Crawford,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  the  regular  nominee  of  the  Democratic  Con 
gressional  caucus,  which,  though  composed  of  a  decided  minority  of  the  members  belong 
ing  to  that  party,  claimed  the  support  of  all  its  adherents  as  a  matter  of  precedent  and  prin 
ciple.  The  "  regular  ticket"  (electoral)  was  therefore  in  most  states  for  Crawford  ;  while 
Mr.  Adams's  name  in  the  east  and  General  Jackson's  in  the  south  and  southwest  were  gen 
erally  pitched  upon  by  the  eontemners  of  caucus  pretensions  to  form  a  rallying  cry  against 
E* 


106  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

and  chicanery,  of  votes  in  New  York  and  Louisiana — which 
would  have  carried  him  into  the  house,  where  he  would  undoubt 
edly  have  been  elected  president  over  all  other  candidates. 

The  president  of  the  senate  rose,  and  declared  that  no  person 
had  received  a  majority  of  the  votes  given  for  president  of  the 
United  States; — that  Andrew  Jackson,  John  Q.  Adams,  and 
William  H.  Crawford,  were  the  three  persons  who  had  received 
the  highest  number  of  votes,  and  that  the  remaining  duties  in  the 
choice  of  a  president  now  devolved  on  the  house  of  representa 
tives.  He  farther  declared,  that  John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South 
Carolina,  having  received  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  votes,  was 
duly  elected  vice-president  of  the  United  States,  to  serve  for 
four  years  from  the  ensuing  fourth  day  of  March.  The  members 
of  the  senate  then  retired. 

The  constitution  provides,  that  "  from  the  persons  having  the 
highest  numbers,  not  exceeding  three,  on  the  list  voted  for  as 
president,  the  house  of  representatives  shall  CHOOSE  immediately, 
by  ballot,  a  president." 

The  friends  of  General  Jackson  now,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
eagerly  advanced  the  doctrine  that  a  plurality  of  votes  for  any 
one  candidate  should  be  considered  as  decisive  of  the  will  of 
the  people,  and  should  influence  the  members  of  the  house  in 
their  votes.  As  if  a  mere  plurality,  forsooth,  ought  to  swallow 
up  a  majority !  A  more  dangerous  doctrine,  and  one  more  di 
rectly  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  could  not  well  be 
imagined.  It  can  not  be  called  democratic,  for  it  does  not  admit 
the  prevalence  of  the  will  of  the  majority  in  the  election.  It 
was,  in  fact,  a  dogma  engendered  for  the  occasion  by  the  friends 
of  the  candidate  who  happened  to  come  into  the  house  with  a 
plurality  of  votes. 

Mr.  Clay  was  not  to  be  dragooned  into  the  admission  of  any 
such  principle.  He  resolved  to  be  guided  by  what  was  plainly 
the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  constitution,  and  to  give  his  vote  to 

those  pretensions.  Mr.  Clay  was  successful  in  nearly  every  state  where  an  electoral  ticket 
was  run  in  his  favor ;  and  in  New  York  where  the  members  of  the  legislature  hostile  to  the 
caucus  candidate  finally  united  on  a  ticket  composed  of  twenty-Jive  Adams  and  eleven  Clay 
electors,  a  majority  of  the  latter  were  defeated  through  bad  faith,  whereby  Mr.  Clay  was 
thrown  out  of  the  House,  and  Mr.  Crawford  sent  there  in  his  stead.  But  for  this  treachery, 
Mr.  Clay  would  almost  certainly  have  been  elected,  as  his  popularity  in  the  House  was  ua> 
bounded. 


HIS    PREFERENCE    OF    MR.    ADAMS.  107 

that  man  of  the  three  now  eligible,  whom  he  believed  to  be  the 
most  competent  to  preside  over  the  destinies  of  the  republic.  By 
a  personal  visit  to  Mr.  Crawford,  he  had  satisfied  himself  that 
that  gentleman  was  too  broke  .1  down  in  health  to  discharge  with 
fitting  energy  the  duties  of  the  chief  magistracy.  His  option 
lay,  therefore,  between  Messrs.  Adams  and  Jackson. 

We  have  seen  what  were  Mr.  Clay's  views  of  the  character 
of  General  Jackson  so  far  back  as  1819,  when  the  Seminole 
question  was  before  the  house.  Was  it  possible  that  he  should 
regard  those  traits  which,  in  the  soldier,  had  led  to  conduct  at 
war  with  the  constitution,  as  qualifications  in  the  president? 
General  Jackson  was,  furthermore,  understood  to  be  hostile  to 
those  great  systems  of  internal  improvement  and  protection  to 
home  manufactures,  which  Mr.  Clay  had  spent  the  best  part  of 
his  public  life  in  establishing.  At  least  the  general's  views  were 
vacillating  and  undecided  on  these  points.  Could  Mr.  Clay  be 
called  upon  to  sacrifice  those  important  interests  on  the  shrine 
of  merely  sectional  partiality — for  the  sake  of  having  a  western 
rather  than  an  eastern  man  to  preside  over  the  Union  ? 

No  !  Henry  Clay  was  not  to  be  influenced  by  such  narrow  and 
unworthy  considerations.  He  has  himself  said  :  "  Had  I  voted 
for  General  Jackson  in  opposition  to  the  well-known  opinions 
which  I  entertained  of  him,  one-tenth  part  of  the  ingenuity  and 
zeal  which  have  been  employed  to  excite  prejudices  against  me, 
would  have  held  me  up  to  universal  contempt ;  and,  what  would 
have  been  worse,  I  should  have  felt  that  I  really  deserved  it.11 
According  to  the  testimony  of  his  friend,  General  Call,  General 
Jackson  himself  never  *  ;pected  that  he  vvould  receive  the  vote 
of  Mr.  Clay. 

With  Mr.  Adanu,  Mr.  Clay  had  always  been  on  amicable  if 
not  on  intimate  terms.  At  Ghent,  they  had  differed  on  a  ques 
tion  of  public  policy,  but  they  both  had  too  much  liberality  of 
soul  to  make  their  dissimilarity  of  opinion  a  cause  of  personal 
displeasure  and  variance.  The  speaker  saw  in  Mr.  Adams,  a 
statesman  highly  gifted,  profoundly  learned,  and  long  and  greatly 
experienced  in  public  affairs  at  home  and  abroad. 

How  could  he  in  conscience  hesitate  when  the  choice  lay  be* 
wreen  two  such  men  ?  He  did  not  hesitate.  He  had  never 


108  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

itated.  Long  before  he  left  Kentucky,  according  to  the  testimony 
of  the  Hon.  John  J.  Crittenden,  six  of  the  Kentucky  delegation 
in  Congress,  and  some  hundreds  of  respectable  citizens,  Mr.  Clay 
declared  that  he  could  not  imagine  the  contingency  in  which  he 
would  vote  for  General  Jackson.  A  still  more  important  witness, 
in  the  person  of  the  great  and  good  LAFAYETTE,  came  forward 
to  testify  in  Mr.  Clay's  behalf,  as  the  following  extract  from  his 
letter  to  Mr.  Clay  will  show  : — 

"My  remembrance  concurs  with  your  own  on  this  point :  that  in  the  lat 
ter  end  of  December,  either  before  or  after  my  visit  to  Annapolis,  you  being 
out  of  the  presidential  candidature,  and  after  having  expressed  my  above- 
mentioned  motives  of  forbearance,  I  by  way  of  confidential  exception,  al 
lowed  myself  to  put  a  simple,  unqualified  question,  respecting  your  election 
eering  guess,  and  your  intended  vote.  Your  answer  was,  that  in  your  opin 
ion,  the  actual  state  of  health  of  Mr.  Crawford  had  limited  the  contest  to  a 
choice  between  Mr.  Adams  and  General  Jackson ;  that  a  claim  founded  on 
military  achievements  did  not  meet  your  preference,  AND  THAT  you  HAD  CON 
CLUDED  TO  VOTE  FOR  MR.  ADAMS." 

Notwithstanding  the  flagitious  attempt  to  influence  his  vote, 
Mr.  Clay  unhesitatingly  gave  it  for  Mr.  Adams,  and  decided  the 
election  in  his  favor.  He  went  further.  When,  after  he  was 
seated  in  the  presidential  chair,  Mr.  Adams  offered  him  the  sec 
retaryship  of  state,  he  had  the  moral  courage  to  accept  it  in  de 
fiance  of  the  storm  of  calumny,  exasperation,  and  malignant  oppo 
sition,  which' he  knew  that  act  would  bring  down  upon  him. 

T]jis  was  a  critical  period  in  Mr.  Clay's  public  life  —  a  bold, 
intrepid,  and  magnanimous  movement.  We  know  that  he  now 
thinks  it  was  a  mistaken  one.  In  his  speech  of  the  9th  of  June, 
1842,  at  Lexington,  he  says  : — 

"  My  error  in  accept;*^  the  office  arose  out  of  my  underrating  the  power 
of  detraction  and  the  force  of  ignorance,  and  'ding  with  too  sure  a  confi 
dence  in  the  conscious  integrity  and  uprightnes.  of  my  own  motives.  Of 
that  ignorance,  I  had  a  remarkable  and  laughabi  example  on  an  occasion 
which  I  will  relate.  I  was  travelling,  in  1828,  thi  "gh,  I  believe  it  was, 
Spottsylvania  in  Virginia,  on  my  return  to  Washington,  in  company  with 
some  young  friends.  We  halted  at  night  at  a  tavern,  kept  by  an  aged  gen 
tleman,  who,  I  quickly  perceived,  from  the  disorder  and  confusion  which 
reigned,  had  not  the  happiness  to  have  a  wife.  After  a  hurried  and  bad 
Bupper,  the  old  gentleman  sat  down  by  me,  and,  without  hearing  my  name, 
but  understanding  that  I  was  from  Kentucky,  remarked  that  he  had  four 
Bons  in  that  state,  and  that  he  was  very  sorry  they  were  divided  in  politics, 
two  being  for  Adams  and  two  for  Jackson;  he  wished  they  were  all  for 
Jackson.  Why?  I  asked  him.  Because,  he  said,  that  fellow  Clay,  and 
Adams,  had  cheated  Jackson  out  of  the  presidency.  Have  you  ever  seen 
any  evidence,  my  old  friend,  said  I,  of  that?  No,  he  replied,  none,  and  h« 


REVIVAL    OF    THE    SLANDER.  109 

wanted  to  see  none,  But,  I  observed,  looking  him  directly  and  steadily  in 
the  face,  suppose  Mr.  Clay  was  to  come  here  and  assure  you,  upon  his  honor, 
that  it  was  ail  a  vile  calumny,  and  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it,  would  you  be- 
lievo  him?  No,  replied  the  old  gentleman  promptly  and  emphatically.  I 
said  to  him,  in  conclusion,  will  you  be  good  enough  to  show  me  to  bed,  and 
bade  him  good  night.  The  next  morning,  having  in  the  interval  learned  my 
name,  he  came  to  me  full  of  apologies,  but  I  at  once  put  him  at  his  ease  by 
assuring  him  that  I  did  not  feel  in  the  slightest  degree  hurt  or  offended  with 
him." 

With  deference,  we  must  express  our  dissent  from  Mr.  Clay 
in  regarding  his  acceptance  of  office  under  Mr.  Adams  as  an 
"  error."  It  may  have  been,  so  far  as  his  personal  interests  were 
concerned,  erroneous,  and  impolitic  ;  but,  in  reference  to  his  pub 
lic  duties,  it  was  right ;  it  was  honest ;  it  was  courageous.  Both 
Madison  and  Monroe  had  offered  him  the  highest  offices  in  their 
gift ;  but  the  country  was  at  those  times  in  such  a  state,  that  he 
thought  he  could  make  himself  more  useful  in  Congress  ;  and  he 
refused  them.  None  but  the  ignorant  and  base-minded  could 
credit  the  monstrous  assertion,  that  he  had  made  the  promise  of 
the  secretaryship  the  condition  of  giving  his  vote  for  Mr.  Adams. 
Mr.  Clay  may  have  been  temporarily  injured  by  the  wretched 
slander  ;  and  it  will  be  seen,  as  we  advance  in  his  biography,  that 
after  it  had  been  dropped  by  Kremer,  it  was  revived  by  General 
Jackson.  But  we  do  not  believe  that  there  is  at  this  time  a  sin 
gle  person  of  moderate  intelligence  in  the  country,  who  attaches 
the  least  credit  to  the  story,  thoroughly  exploded  as  it  has  been 
by  the  most  abundant  and  triumphant  testimony. 

It  is,  therefore,  because  we  have  faith  in  the  ultimate  preva 
lence  of  truth,  that  we  do  not  think  Mr.  Clay  was  in  erroi,  when 
he  so  far  defied  his  traducers  as  to  accept  the  very  office  which 
they  had  previously  accused  him  of  bargaining  for.  The  clouds 
which  for  the  moment  hide  Truth  from  our  sight  only  make  her 
shine  the  brighter  when  they  are  dissipated.  In  the  words  of 
Spenser : — 

"It  often  falls  in  course  of  common  life, 
That  right  long  time  is  overborne  of  wrong, 
Thro'  avarice,  or  power,  or  guile,  or  strife : 
But  Justice,  though  her  doom  she  do  prolong, 
Yet  at  the  last  she  will  her  own  cause  right." 

Mr.  Clay  may  still  abide,  "  with  a  sure  confidence,  in  the  con 
scious  integrity  and  uprightness  of  his  own  motives."  Slander 


110  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

has  done  her  worst.  Never  before,  in  the  history  of  our  gov 
ernment,  was  a  public  man  so  bitterly  assailed  by  every  weapon 
and  engine  that  unprincipled  detraction  and  malignant  party  hos 
tility  could  invent.  For  years,  the  opposition,  in  the  face  of  the 
most  decided  and  complete  refutations  of  the  calumny — and  not 
withstanding  the  original  inventors  had  themselves  confessed  its 
falsity — continued  to  thrust  it  before  the  public,  until  at  length, 
they  could  find  none  so  mean  and  ignorant  as  to  credit  it.  The 
natural  reaction  has  taken  place  ;  and  every  honest  heart  now 
visits  with  indignation  any  attempt  to  resuscitate  the  crushed  and 
obscene  lie.  Mr.  Clay's  reputation  has  come  forth  whiter  and 
purer  from  the  ordeal.  The  "  most  fine  gold"  is  all  the  more 
bright  because  of  those  who  would  have  dimmed  its  lustre.  The 
stream  of  time  is  fast  bearing  down  to  oblivion  the  frail  and  un 
founded  falsehoods  of  his  enemies  ;  but  the  pillars  of  his  renown 
based  as  they  are  upon  inestimable  public  services,  remain  un 
shaken  and  unimpaired. 

Mr.  Clay  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  new  post  in  March, 
1825.  In  him  the  house  of  representatives  lost  the  ablest  and 
most  efficient  speaker  that  had  ever  graced  the  chair.  The  best 
proof  of  his  popularity  may  be  found  in  the  eloquent  fact,  that 
from  the  time  of  his  first  entry  into  the  house  in  1811  to  1825, 
with  the  exception  of  two  years  when  he  was  voluntarily  absent, 
he  was  chosen  to  preside  over  their  deliberations  almost  without 
opposition.  The  period  of  his  speakership  will  always  be  re 
garded  as  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  our  federal  legislature. 
Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  characteristic  of  his  presidency 
over  the  house,  was  his  perfect — his  unimpeachable  impartiality. 
Both  foes  and  friends  bore  testimony  to  this  trait  without  a  dis 
senting  voice.  Strong  as  were  his  party  feelings,  they  never 
could  induce  him,  even  in  the  very  tempest  and  whirlwind  of  de 
bate,  to  treat  an  opponent  with  unfairness  or  undue  neglect.  His 
decisions  were  always  prompt,  yet  never  so  hasty  as  to  be  re 
versed  by  the  house.  Notwithstanding  the  many  momentous  and 
agitating  questions  which  were  discussed  while  he  occupied  the 
chair,  he  was  never  known  to  lose  his  self-possession,  or  to  fail 
in  preserving  the  dignity  of  his  position. 

During  the  long  period  of  his  service  (some  twelve  or  thirteen 


HIS    CHARACTER    AS    SPEAKER.  Ill 

years)  in  the  chair,  such  was  the  confidence  reposed  in  his  im 
partiality  and  the  rectitude  of  his  judgment,  that  appeals  were 
rarely  taken  from  his  decision — during  the  last  years  of  his  in 
cumbency,  scarcely  one. 

It  was  under  Mr.  Clay's  administration  of  the  duties  of  the 
chair,  that  the  present  use  of  the  previous  questions  in  termina 
ting  debate  was  established.  In  England  it  is  employed  to  put 
by  or  postpone  a  subject  which  it  is  deemed  improper  to  debate  , 
and  then,  when  the  house  of  commons  do  not  choose  to  hear  an 
unacceptable  debater,  he  is  silenced  by  being  shuffled  or  coughed 
down.  Certainly  it  is  more  orderly,  and  less  invidious,  for  the 
house  itself  to  determine  when  a  subject  shall  be  put  to  the  ques 
tion  and  all  debate  upon  it  stopped.  And  every  deliberative  body 
ought  necessarily  to  possess  the  power  of  deciding  when  it  will 
express  its  judgment  or  opinion  upon  any  proposition  before  it, 
and,  consequently,  when  debate  shall  close. 

It  has  been  seen  that  Mr.  Clay's  presiding  in  the  chair  did  not 
prevent  his  taking  an  active  and  leading  part  in  all  the  great 
measures  that  came  before  the  house  in  committee  of  the  whole. 
His  spirits  were  always  buoyant,  and  his  manner  in  debate  gen 
erally  animated,  and  sometimes  vehement.  But  he  never  carried 
from  the  floor  to  the  chair  the  excited  feelings  arising  in  debate. 
There  he  was  still  composed,  dignified,  authoritative,  but  perfectly 
impartial.  His  administration  of  its  duties  commanded  the  undi 
vided  praise  of  all  parties. 

Uniformly  cheerful  when  on  the  floor,  he  sometimes  indulged 
in  repartee.  The  late  General  Alexander  Smyth  of  Virginia,  a 
man  of  ability  and  research,  was  an  excessively  tedious  speaker, 
worrying  the  house  and  prolonging  his  speeches  by  numerous 
quotations.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  when  he  had  been  more 
than  ordinarily  tiresome,  while  hunting  up  an  authority,  he  ob 
served  to  Mr.  Clay,  who  was  sitting  near  him,  "  You,  sir,  speak 
for  the  present  generation  ;  but  I  speak  for  posterity." — -'Yes," 
said  Mr.  Clay,  "  and  you  seem  resolved  to  speak  until  the  arrival 
of  your  audience  !" 

The  late  Governor  Lincoln  of  Maine  was  a  gentleman  of  fine 
feelings,  eloquent,  but  declamatory.  On  one  occasion,  when  ad' 
dressing  the  house  of  representatives,  of  which  he  was  a  member 


112  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

on  the  revolutionary  pension  bill,  in  answer  to  an  argument  that 
it  would  be  a  serious  charge  upon  the  treasury  of  long  continu 
ance,  as  many  of  the  officers  and  soldiers  would  live  a  great  while, 
he  burst  out  into  the  patriotic  exclamation,  "  Soldiers  of  the  rev 
olution,  live  for  ever  !"  Mr.  Clay  followed  him,  inculcating  mod 
eration,  and  concluded  by  turning  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  with  an  arch 
smile,  and  observing,  "  I  hope  my  worthy  friend  will  not  insist 
upon  the  very  great  duration  of  these  pensions,  which  he  has 
suggested.  Will  he  not  consent,  by  way  of  a  compromise,  to  a 
term  of  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  years  instead  of  eternity  ?" 


IX. 

THE  '  BARGAIN'  CALUMNY — MR.  CLAY  AS  SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 

MR.  CLAY  has  himself  given  to  the  public  a  history  of  his  in 
tercourse  with  General  Jackson.  It  may  be  found  in  his  speech 
of  1838,  in  the  senate,  on  the  sub-treasury  scheme. 

"My  acquaintance,"  he  says,  "with  that  extraordinary  man  commenced 
in  this  city,  in  the  fall  of  1815  or  1816.  It  was  short,  but  highly  respectful 
and  mutually  cordial.  I  beheld  in  him  the  gallant  and  successful  general, 
who,  by  the  glorious  victory  of  Kew  Orleans,  had  honorably  closed  the  sec 
ond  war  of  our  independence,  and  I  paid  him  the  homage  due  for  that 
eminent  service.  A  few  years  after,  it  became  my  painful  duty  to  animad 
vert,  in  the  house  of  representatives,  with  the  independence  which  belongs 
to  the  representative  character,  upon  some  of  his  proceedings  in  the  conduct 
of  the  Seminole  war,  which  I  thought  illegal,  and  contrary  to  the  constitu 
tion  and  the  law  of  nations.  A  non-intercourse  between  us  ensued,  which 
continued  until  the  fall  of  1824,  when,  he  being  a  member  of  the  senate,  an 
accommodation  between  us  was  sought  to  be  brought  about  by  the  principal 
part  of  the  delegation  from  his  own  state.  For  that  purpose,  we  were  in 
vited  to  dine  with  them  at  Claxton's  boarding-house,  on  Capitol  hill,  where 
my  venerable  friend  from  Tennessee  (Mr.  White)  and  his  colleague  on  the 
Spanish  commission,  were  both  present.  I  retired  early  from  dinner,  and 
was  followed  to  the  door  by  General  Jackson,  arid  the  present  minister  of  the 
United  States  at  the  court  of  Madrid  (Mr.  Eaton).  They  pressed  me  earnestly 
to  take  a  seat  with  them  in  their  carriage.  My  faithful  servant  and  friend, 
Charles,  was  standing  at  the  door  waiting  for  me  with  my  own.  I  yielded 
to  their  urgent  politeness,  directed  Charles  to  follow  with  my  carriage,  and 
they  sat  me  down  by  my  own  door.  "We  afterward  frequently  met,  with 
mutual  respect  and  cordiality;  dined  several  times  together,  and  recipro 
cated  the  hospitality  of  our  respective  quarters.  This  friendly  intercourse 
continued  until  the  election,  in  the  house  of  representatives,  of  a  president 


CARTER  BEVERLEYS  LETTER.  113 

of  the  United  States,  came  on  in.  February,  1825.  I  gave  the  vote  which,  in 
the  contingency  that  happened,  I  told  my  colleague  (Mr.  Oittenden),  who 
sits  before  me,  prior  to  my  departure  from  Kentucky,  in  November,  1824, 
and  told  others,  that  I  should  give.  All  intercourse  ceased  between  General 
Jackson  and  myself.  "We  have  never  since,  except  once  accidentally,  ex 
changed  salutations,  nor  met,  except  on  occasions  when  we  were  performing 
the  last  offices  toward  deceased  members  of  Congress,  or  other  officers  of 
government.  Immediately  after  my  vote,  a  rancorous  war  was  commenced 
against  me,  and  all  the  barking  dogs  let  loose  upon  me.  I  shall  not  trace  it 
during  its  ten  years'  bitter  continuance.  But  I  thank  my  God  that  I  stand 
here,  firm  and  erect,  unbent,  unbroken,  unsubdued,  unawed,  and  ready  to 
denounce  the  mischievous  measures  of  this  administration,  and  ready  to  de 
nounce  this,  its  legitimate  offspring,  the  most  pernicious  of  all." 

Directly  after  the  adjournment  of  the  19th  Congress,  a  letter, 
dated  March  8,  1825,  appeared  in  the  newspapers,  purporting  to 
relate  a  conversation  of  the  writer  with  General  Jackson,  in 
which  the  latter  said  that  Mr.  Clay's  friends  in  Congress  proposed 
to  his  friends  (Gen.  J.'s)  that  if  they  would  promise  for  him  that 
Mr.  Adams  should  not  be  continued  as  secretary  of  state,  Mr. 
Clay  and  his  friends  would  at  once  elect  General  Jackson  presi 
dent  ;  and  that  he  (General  Jackson)  indignantly  rejected  the  pro 
position.  Mr.  Carter  Beverley,  the  author  of  this  letter,  wrote  to 
General  Jackson,  soon  after  its  appearance,  for  a  confirmation  of 
its  statements. 

General  Jackson  replied,  in  a  letter  dated  June  t>,  1827 — more 
than  two  years  after  the  charge  was  first  made,  but  just  in  season 
to  operate  upon  approaching  elections  ;  and,  in  his  reply,  directly 
charged  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  with  having  proposed  to  him, 
(Jackson)  through  a  distinguished  member  of  Congress,  to  vote  for 
him,  in  case  he  would  declare  that  Mr.  Adams  should  not  be  con 
tinued  as  secretary  of  state  ;  and  insinuated  that  this  proposition 
was  made  by  authority  of  Mr.  Clay  ;  and,  to  strengthen  that  in 
sinuation,  asserted  that  immediately  after  the  rejection  of  the 
proposition,  Mr.  Clay  came  out  openly  for  Mr.  Adams. 

To  this  proposition,  according  to  his  own  account,  General 
Jackson  returned  for  answer,  that  before  he  would  reach  the 
presidential  chair  by  such  means  of  bargain  and  corruption,  "  he 
would  see  the  earth  open,  and  swallow  both  Mr.  Clay  and  his 
friends  and  himself  with  them !" — a  reply  which  was,  no  doubt, 
literally  true,  inasmuch  as  "  such  means"  could  never  have  been 
used  to  elevate  the  hero  of  New  Orleans  to  the  presidency. 

8 


M4  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

General  Jackson  gave  up  the  name  of  Mr.  Buchanan  of  Penn* 
sylvania,  as  "  the  distinguished  member  of  Congress,"  to  whom 
he  had  alluded  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Beverley.  Mr.  Buchanan,  being 
thus  involved  in  the  controversy,  although  a  personal  and  political 
friend  of  General  "Jackson,  made  a  statement  which  entirely  ex 
culpated  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  from  all  participation  in  the 
alleged  proposition.  He  stated,  that  in  the  month  of  December, 
a  rumor  was  in  circulation  at  Washington,  that  General  Jackson 
intended,  if  elected,  to  keep  Mr.  Adams  in  as  secretary  of  state. 
Believing  that  such  a  belief  would  cool  his  friends  and  inspire 
his  opponents  with  confidence,  and  being  a  supporter  of  General 
Jackson  himself,  he  thought  that  the  general  ought  to  contradict 
the  report.  He  accordingly  called  on  him,  and  made  known  his 
views  ;  to  which  General  Jackson  replied,  that  though  he  thought 
well  of  Mr.  Adams,  he  had  never  said  or  intimated  that  he  would 
or  would  not,  appoint  him  secretary  of  state.  Mr.  Buchanan  then 
asked  permission  to  repeat  this  answer  to  any  person  he  thought 
proper,  which  was  granted,  and  here  the  conversation  ended. 
And  out  of  such  flimsy  materials  had  General  Jackson  constructed 
his  rancorous  charge  against  Mr.  Clay ! 

Mr.  Buchanan  further  stated,  that  he  called  on  General  Jackson 
solely  as  his  friend,  and  upon  his  own  responsibility,  and  not  as 
an  agent  for  Mr.  Clay,  or  any  other  person  ;  that  he  had  never 
been  a  friend  of  Mr.  Clay  during  the  presidential  contest ;  and 
that  he  had  not  the  most  distant  idea  that  General  Jackson  believed, 
or  suspected,  that  he  came  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Clay,  or  of  his  friends, 
until  the  publication  of  the  letter,  making  that  accusation. 

Notwithstanding  all  grounds  for  the  charge  were  thus  annihi 
lated  by  the  testimony  of  the  "  distinguished  member  of  Con 
gress" — himself  a  warm  partisan  of  General  Jackson — the 
asinine  cry  of  bargain  and  corruption  was  still  kept  up  by  the  op 
ponents  of  the  administration  ;  and  the  most  audacious  assertions 
were  substituted  for  proofs. 

At  length,  although  not  the  slightest  shadow  of  anything  re 
sembling  evidence  had  been  produced  in  support  of  the  calumny 
a  body  of  testimony  perfectly  overwhelming  was  produced  against 
it.  A  circular  letter  was  addressed  to  the  western  members  (for 
they  alone  were  accused  of  being  implicated  in  the  alleged  trans 


FINAL    REFUTATION    OF    THE    SLANDER.  115 

action)  who  voted  for  Mr.  Adams  in  the  election  by  Congress,  in 
1825,  requesting  to  know  whether  there  was  any  foundation  for 
the  charge  in  the  letter  of  General  Jackson. 

They  all  (with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Cook,  who  was  dead), 
utterly  disclaimed  the  knowledge  of  any  proposition  made  by  Mr. 
Clay,  or  his  friends,  to  General  Jackson,  or  to  any  other  person  ; 
and  also  explicitly  disclaimed  any  negotiation  with  respect  to 
their  votes  on  that  occasion.  On  the  contrary,  the  members  from 
Ohio  stated  that  they  had  determined  upon  voting  for  Mr.  Adams 
previous  to  their  being  informed  of  Mr.  Clay's  intention,  and  with 
out  having  ascertained  his  views. 

The  members  from  Kentucky,  who  voted  with  Mr.  Clay,  ex 
pressed  their  ignorance  of  conditions  of  any  sort  having  been 
offered  by  his  friends  to  any  person,  on  compliance  with  which 
their  vote  was  to  depend. 

The  members  from  Louisiana  and  Missouri,  coincided  in  these 
declarations,  and  they  all  professed  their  belief  in  the  falsehood 
of  the  charges  against  Mr.  Clay,  on  account  of  his  conduct  on 
that  occasion. 

In  addition  to  this  testimony,  letters  were  produced  from  well- 
known  individuals,  satisfactorily  establishing  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Clay,  previous  to  his  leaving  his  residence  in  Kentucky  for  Wash 
ington,  in  the  fall  of  1824,  repeatedly  made  declarations  of  his 
preference  for  Mr.  Adams  over  General  Jackson,  through  the 
months  of  October,  November,  December,  and  January,  following, 
until  he  executed  that  intention  on  the  9th  of  February,  1825,  in 
the  house  of  representatives.  We  have  already  quoted  from 
General  Lafayette's  letter  to  Mr.  Clay,  a  passage  confirming  this 
ample  testimony. 

Such  a  mass  of  evidence  effectually  crushed  the  accusation 
respecting  a  bargain,  and  convinced  the  public,  that  in  voting  for 
Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  conscientiously  discharged 
their  duty  ;  and  that  they  could  not  have  voted  otherwise  without 
palpable  inconsistency. 

When,  on  the  occasion  of  his  speech  of  June,  1842,  at  Lex 
ington,  Mr.  Clay  alluded  to  this  calumny,  of  which  we  have  given 
a  brief  history,  somebody  cried  out,  that  Mr.  Carter  Beverley,  who 
had  been  made  the  organ  of  announcing  it,  had  recently  borne 


116  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

testimony  to  its  being  unfounded.  Mr.  Clay  said  it  was  true  tha 
he  had  voluntarily  borne  such  testimony.  But,  with  great  earnest 
ness  and  emphasis,  Mr.  Clay  said,  "  I  want  no  testimony  ;  here-— 
jiere  —  HERE"  —  (repeatedly  touching  his  heart,  amid  tremendous 
cheers)  —  "here  is  the  best  of  all  witnesses  of  my  innocence." 

Soon  after  the  close  of  his  administration,  Mr.  Adams,  in  reply 
to  an  address  from  a  committee  of  gentlemen  in  New  Jersey, 
spoke  in  the  following  terms  of  Mr.  Clay  :  — 

"  Upon  him  [Mr.  Clay]  the  foulest  slanders  have  been  showered.  Long 
known  and  appreciated,  as  successively  a  member  of  both  houses  of  your 
national  legislature,  as  the  unrivaled  speaker,  and,  at  the  same  time,  most 
efficient  leader  of  debates  in  one  of  them ;  as  an  able  and  successful  negotia 
tor  for  your  interests  in  war  and  peace  with  foreign  powers,  and  as  a  power 
ful  candidate  for  the  highest  of  your  trusts — the  department  of  state  itself 
was  a  station,  which,  by  its  bestowal,  could  confer  neither  profit  nor  honor 
upon  him,  but  upon  which  he  has  shed  unfading  honor,  by  the  manner  in 
which  he  has  discharged  its  duties.  Prejudice  and  passion  have  charged  him 
with  obtaining  that  office  by  bargain  and  corruption.  Before  you,  my  fellow- 
citizens,  in  the  presence  of  our  country  and  Heaven,  I  pronounce  that  charge 
totally  unfounded.  This  tribute  of  justice  is  due  from  me  to  him,  and  I  seize, 
with  pleasure,  the  opportunity  afforded  me  by  your  letter,  of  discharging  the 
obligation. 

"As  to  my  motives  for  tendering  to  him  the  department  of  state  when  I 
did,  let  that  man  who  questions  them  come  forward.  Let  him  look  around 
among  statesmen  and  legislators  of  this  nation  and  of  that  day.  Let  him 
then  select  and  name  the  man  whom,  by  his  pre-eminent  talents,  by  his 
splendid  services,  by  his  ardent  patriotism,  by  his  all-embracing  public  spirit, 
by  his  fervid  eloquence  in  behalf  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  mankind,  by 
his  long  experience  in  the  affairs  of  the  Union,  foreign  arid  domestic,  a  pres 
ident  of  the  United  States,  intent  only  upon  the  honor  and  welfare  of  his 
country,  ought  to  have  preferred  to  HENRY  CLAY.  Let  him  name  that  man, 
and  then  judge  you,  my  fellow-citizens,  of  my  motives." 

During  his  visit  to  the  West,  in  the  fall  of  1843,  Mr.  Adams 
confirmed  this  denial  in  the  strongest  terms,  which  it  is  possible 
for  the  human  tongue  to  employ. 

"  I  thank  you,  sir,"  said  he,  in  his  speech  at  Maysville,  Ky.,  "  for  the  op 
portunity  you  have  given  me  of  speaking  of  the  great  statesman  who  was 
associated  with  me  in  the  administration  of  the  general  government,  at  my 
earnest  solicitation — who  belongs  not  to  Kentucky  alone,  but  to  the  whole 
Union;  and  is  not  only  an  honor  to  this  state  and  this  nation,  but  to  man 
kind.  The  charges  to  which  you  refer,  I  have,  after  my  term  of  service  had 
expired — and  it  was  proper  for  me  to  speak — denied  before  the  whole 
country ;  and  I  here  reiterate  and  reaffirm  that  denial ;  and  as  I  expect  shortly 
to  appear  before  my  God,  to  answer  for  the  conduct  of  my  whole  life,  should 
those  charges  have  found  their  way  to  the  Throne  of  Eternal  Justice,  I  WILL, 

IN   THE  PRESENCE   OF   OMNIPOTENCE,  PRONOUNCE   THEM   FALSE." 


OPPOSITION    TO    MR.  ADAMS'S   ADMINISTRATION.  117 

Tn  his  address  at  Covington,  Ky.,  Mr.  Adams  said,  in  allusion 
to  the  hospitalities  which  he  had  met  with : — 

"  Not  only  have  I  received  invitations  from  public  bodies  and  cities,  but 
also  from  individuals,  among  the  first  of  whom  was  that  grea<.  man,  your 
own  citizen,  who,  during  a  very  large  portion  of  my  public  life,  and  in  various 
public  capacities,  and,  in  several  instances,  in  matters  relating  to  your  inter 
ests,  has  been  my  associate  and  friend,  and  the  recollection  of  whom  brings 
me  to  the  acknowledgment,  before  this  whole  assembly,  that  in  all  the  various 
capacities  in  which  I  have  known  him  to  act,  whether  as  associate,  as 
assistant,  or  acting  independently  of  me,  in  his  own  individual  character  and 
capacity,  I  have  ever  found  him  not  only  one  of  the  ablest  men  with  whom 
I  have  ever  co-operated,  but  also  one  of  the  most  amiable  and  worthy."  * 

We  have  but  imperfectly  sketched  the  history  of  the  flagitious 
measures  which  were  adopted  to  blast  the  political  reputation  of 
Mr.  Clay,  and  break  down  the  administration,  of  which  he  was 
the  main  ornament  and  support.  To  the  future  historian,  we 
leave  the  task  of  commenting,  in  adequate  terms  of  reprobation, 
upon  the  conduct  of  those  unprincipled  men  who  originated  the 
slander,  and  continued  to  circulate  it  long  after  it  had  been  proved 
to  be  utterly  ungrounded.  That  it  answered  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  intended  ;  that  it  was  the  most  efficient  instrument 
employed  to  trammel  and  defeat  Mr.  Adams's  administration,  there 
can  now  be  little  doubt.  The  recklessness  and  audacity  with 
which  it  was  persisted  in  until  it  had  served  its  end — the  con 
duct  of  Mr.  Kremer,  as  he  vacillated  between  his  good  impulses 
and  the  party  ties  by  which  he  was  fettered  —  and  subsequent 
developments,  still  fresh  in  the  remembrance  of  many  of  our 
readers,  showed  that  the  promulgation  of  the  calumny  was  the 
result  of  a  regularly-planned  conspiracy. 

*  Mr.  Adams,  of  whom  it  could  be  said,  "  age  can  not  mar,  nor  custom  stale  his  infinite 
variety,"  always  retained  his  exalted  estimate  of  Mr.  Clay's  patriotism  and  statesmanship, 
and  was  his  ardent  supporter  for  the  presidency  in  1844.  A  Washington  correspondent  of 
that  year  wrote  :  — 

"  I  have  frequently  observed  ladies'  albums  circulating  through  the  house  and  senate 
chamber,  with  the  view  of  collecting  the  autographs  of  the  members.  One,  this  morning, 

belonging  to  a  young  lady  of ,  attracted  considerable  attention.    Upon  examination, 

I  found  it  contained  a  page  of  well-written  poetry,  dated  23d  July,  1842,  in  the  tremulous 
hand-writing  of  John  Q.  Adams.  This  piece  was  descriptive  of  the  wild  chaos  at  present 
epread  over  cur  political  affairs,  and  anticipated  coming  events  which  would  bring  order  out 
of  disorder.  The  closing  verse  was  follows  : — 

'  Say,  for  whose  brow  this  laurel  crown  ? 
For  whom  this  web  of  life  is  spinning  ? 
Turn  this,  thy  Album,  upside  down, 
And  take  the  end  for  the  beginning.' 

"  TJhe  meaning  of  this  was  somewhat  mystical,  but  by  turning  to  the  back  of  the  book,  and 
inverting  it,  on  its  last  page  a  piece  was  found  with  the  signature  of  H.  CLAY  I" 


18  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

We  refer  those  who  would  satisfy  themselves  of  this  fact,  as 
well  as  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  proofs  by  which  this  "  measure 
less  lie"  was  overwhelmed,  to  the  proceedings  in  the  house  of 
representatives,  instituted  at  Mr.  Clay's  instance,  in  February, 
1825 — to  the  subsequent  letter  of  Carter  Beverley,  detailing  a 
conversation  at  General  Jackson's — to  Mr.  Clay's  letter  to  the 
public,  challenging  his  enemy  to  produce  his  testimony — to 
General  Jackson's  surrender  of  the  name  of  Mr.  Buchanan  as 
the  "  distinguished  member  of  Congress"'  upon  whose  authority 
the  charge  of  corruption  was  reiterated  against.  Mr.  Clay  —  to 
Mr.  Buchanan's  complete  and  decided  disclaimer  of  any  intention, 
on  his  part,  of  ever  giving  countenance  to  the  charge — to  Mr. 
Clay's  pamphlets,  published  in  1827-'8,  embodying  a  mass  of 
testimony  disproving  the  charge — to  Mr.  Buchanan's  statements 
on  the  floor  of  the  house  of  representatives  and  the  senate,  avow 
ing  his  disbelief  of  the  charge — and  finally  to  Carter  Beverley's 
letter,  published  in  1841,  repudiating  the  calumny  as  destitute  of 
the  slightest  foundation  in  truth,  and  making  such  atonement  as 
he  could  for  having  given  currency  to  it  in  his  letter  of  1825.* 

We  might  refer  farther  to  Thomas  H.  Benton's  declaration, 
who,  in  a  letter  dated  December  7,  1827,  proves  not  only  that 
Mr.  Clay's  bitterest  opponents  considered  him  innocent  of  the 
charge,  but  that  before  Congress  had  convened  —  before  the  pres 
idential  election  took  place  in  that  body — Mr.  Clay  had  disclosed 
his  intention  to  vote  for  Mr.  Adams,  not  only  to  Mr.  B.,  but  to 
others.  —  See  National  Intelligencer,  April  25,  1844. 

Rarely  has  an  administration  been  subjected  to  an  opposition 
so  unrelenting,  so  vindictive,  and  so  determined  as  that  which 
assailed  the  presidency  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  The  motives 
of  that  opposition  appear  to  have  been  purely  selfish  and  mer 
cenary ;  for  the  policy  of  Mr.  Adams  resembled  that  of  his  pred 
ecessor,  whose  secretary  of  state  he  had  been,  and  it  was  little 
calculated  to  call  down  a  virulent  hostility.  In  his  views  of  the 
powers  of  the  general  government,  he  was  more  liberal  than  Mr, 
Monroe.  He  was  friendly  to  the  American  system  of  internal 

*  All  these  documents  may  be  found  in  Niles'  Register.  We  regret  that  our  limits  will 
not  permit  us  to  expose,  in  its  full  deformity,  the  whole  of  this  nefarious  plot  against  Mr. 
Clay.  That  man  must  presume  greatly  upon  the  ignorance  of  the  public,  however,  who 
would,  at  this  day,  venture  to  revive  the  extinct  lie. 


DUE/     WITH    RANDOLPH.  119 

improvement  and  protection,  which  had  been  so  ably  vindicated 
by  Mr.  Clay  ;  and  all  his  measures  were  conceived  in  a  truly 
generous,  republican,  and  patriotic  spirit. 

A  great  clamor  was  most  unjustly  raised  about  the  expenses  ol 
his  administration.  At  this  day,  the  iniquity  of  this  charge  is  so 
apparent,  as  to  render  it  unworthy  a  serious  confutation.  It  be 
comes  indeed  laughable  when  placed  side  by  side  with  the  list 
of  presidential  expenditures  under  Mr.  Van  Buren.  In  the  dis 
tribution  of  his  official  patronage,  Mr.  Adams  appears  to  have 
been  actuated  by  the  purest  and  most  honorable  motives.  Not  a 
single  removal  from  office,  on  political  grounds,  was  made  by  his 
authority  ;  and  in  no  one  instance  does  he  seem  to  have  been 
impelled  by  considerations  of  self-interest,  or  with  a  view  to  ulti 
mate  personal  advantage. 

The  circumstances  under  which  he  came  into  office,  however, 
were  a  continual  source  of  uneasiness  to  the  friends  of  Jackson 
and  Crawford  ;  and  his  administration,  able  and  honorable  to  the 
country  as  it  was,  was  constantly  assailed.  John  Randolph,  who 
had  now  a  seat  in  the  senate,  was  especially  bitter  and  personal 
in  his  denunciations.  The  eccentricities  of  that  extraordinary 
man,  induced  many  persons  to  believe  that  he  was  partially  de 
ranged  in  his  intellect.  His  long,  desultory,  and  immethodical 
harangues  were  a  serious  impediment  to  legislative  business '; 
while  his  elfish  taunts  and  reckless  assaults  upon  individuals 
were  so  frequent,  that  he  seemed  at  length  to  have  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  that  he  enjoyed  superior  immunities  in  debate  —  that 
he  was,  in  fact,  "  a  chartered  libertine."  In  one  of  the  numerous 
discussions  upon  the  Panama  question,  he  took  occasion  to  ani 
madvert  in  the  most  offensive  manner  upon  the  conduct  of  Mr, 
Clay,  and  denounced  the  harmony  existing  between  the  secretary 
of  state  and  the  president,  as  a  "  coalition  of  Blifil  and  black 
George  ;"  a  combination  of  "  the  puritan  with  the  black-leg." 

When  called  upon  by  Mr.  Clay  to  explain  or  retract  these  ex 
pressions,  he  refused.  A  hostile  meeting  consequently  ensued 
between  them,  oh  the  8th  of  April,  1826.  After  two  ineffectual 
fires,  it  resulted  in  the  reconciliation  of  the  parties — John  Ran 
dolph  having  given  additional  evidence,  by  his  conduct  and  ap- 


120  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY 

pearance  on  the  occasion,  that  his  eccentricity,  if  it  did  not 
border  on  insanity,  was  separated  from  it  by  a  very  slight 
partition. 

The  last  interview  between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Randolph,  was 
on  the  second  or  third  of  March,  1833,  a  few  weeks  before  Mr. 
R.'s  death,  when  he  was  on  his  way  to  Philadelphia,  where  he 
died.  He  came  to  the  senate-chamber,  unable  to  stand  or  walk 
without  assistance.  The  senate  was  in  session  by  candle-light, 
and  Mr.  Clay  had  risen  to  make  some  observations  on  the  compro 
mise  act.  "  Help  me  up,"  said  Mr.  Randolph,  sitting  in  a  chair, 
and  addressing  his  half-brother,  Mr.  B.  Tucker  ;  "  /  have  come 
here  to  hear  that  voice"  As  soon  as  Mr.  Clay  had  concluded  his 
remarks,  he  went  to  Mr.  Randolph,  and  they  cordially  shook 
hands  and  exchanged  salutations. 

The  health  of  Mr.  Clay,  during  the  whole  period  of  his  resi 
dence  at  Washington,  as  secretary  of  state,  was  exceedingly 
unfavorable  —  so  much  so,  that  at  one  time  he  had  fully  determined 
to  resign  the  office.  He  was  persuaded,  however,  to  remain  ;  and, 
notwithstanding  the  depressing  influence  upon  mental  and  physi 
cal  exertion  of  bodily  infirmity,  he  discharged  the  complicated 
and  laborious  duties  of  the  secretaryship  with  a  fidelity  and  effi 
ciency  that  have  never  been  surpassed.  In  the  records  of  his 
labors,  in  his  instructions  to  ministers,  and  his  numerous  letters 
upon  subjects  of  foreign  and  domestic  concern,  the  archives  of 
the  state  department  contain  a  lasting  monument  to  his  trans 
cendent  abilities  as  a  statesman,  arid  his  indefatigable  industry  as 
a  public  officer. 

One  of  the  ablest  state  papers  in  the  diplomatic  annals  of  the 
United  States,  is  the  letter  of  instructions  of  Mr.  Clay  to  the 
delegation  to  Panama.  The  story  of  this  mission  may  be  briefly 
told.  A  congress  was  proposed  to  be  held  at  Panama  or  Tacu- 
baya,  to  be  composed  of  delegates  from  the  republics  of  Mexico, 
Colombia,  and  Central  America,  to  deliberate  on  subjects  of  im 
portance  to  all,  and  in  which  the  welfare  ana1  interest  of  all  might 
be  involved.  The  threatening  aspect  of  the  holy  alliance  toward 
the  free  governments  of  the  new  world,  had  induced  the  late 
president  Monroe  to  declare  that  the  United  States  would  not 
view  with  indifference  any  interference  on  their  part  in  the  con- 


THE    PANAMA    CONGRESS.  121 

test  between  Spain  and  her  former  colonies  ;  and  the  governments 
of  the  new  republics  were  naturally  led  to  suppose  that  our  own 
was  friendly  to  the  objects  proposed  in  the  contemplated  congress. 
In  the  spring  of  1825,  invitations  were  given  the  part  of  Colom 
bia,  Mexico,  and  Central  America,  to  the  United  States,  to  send 
commissioners  to  Panama. 

In  reply  to  this  proposition,  coming  from  the  ministers  of  those 
powers  at  Washington,  Mr.  Clay  said,  that  before  such  a  congress 
met,  it  appeared  to  him  expedient  to  adjust,  as  preliminary  matters, 
the  precise  objects  to  which  the  attention  of  the  congress  would 
be  directed,  and  the  substance  and  the  form  of  the  powers  of  the 
ministers  representing  the  several  republics.  This  suggestion 
called  forth  answers  which  were  not  considered  as  sufficiently 
precise  ;  but  still,  to  manifest  the  sensibility  of  the  United  States 
to  what  concerned  the  welfare  of  America,  and  to  the  friendly 
feelings  of  the  Spanish- American  states,  the  president  determined 
to  accept  their  invitations  and  to  send  ministers,  with  the  consent 
of  the  senate. 

In  March,  1829,  a  call  having  been  made  in  the  senate  for 
copies  of  the  instructions  given  to  our  ministers  at  Panama,  Mr. 
Adams  transmitted  them,  and  they  were  soon  afterward  pub 
lished,  notwithstanding  a  rancorous  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
opposition,  to  prevent  their  appearance  ;  so  creditable  were  they 
to  the  administration  that  was  going  out  of  power,  and  to  Mr. 
Clay,  their  author  ;  and  so  completely  did  they  refute  the  slanders 
which  had  been  propagated  in  connection  with  the  mission.  Few 
state  papers  in  the  archives  of  the  government  will  compare,  in 
point  of  ability,  with  this  letter  of  instructions  of  Mr.  Clay.  It 
was,  perhaps,  the  most  elaborate  paper  prepared  by  him  while 
in  the  department  of  state.  The  liberal  principles  of  commerce 
and  navigation  which  it  proposed  ;  the  securities  for  neutral  and 
maritime  rights  which  it  sought ;  the  whole  system  of  interna 
tional  and  American  policy  which  it  aimed  to  establish ;  and  the 
preparatory  measures  which  it  recommended  for  uniting  the  two 
oceans  by  a  canal,  constitute  it  one  of  the  boldest,  most  original, 
comprehensive,  and  statesman-like  documents  on  record. 

Another  masterly  paper  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Clay,  is  his  letter 
of  May,  1825,  to  our  minister  at  St.  Petersburgh,  Mr.  Middleton 


123  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Instructing  him  to  engage  the  Russian  government  to  contr  bute 
its  best  exertions  toward  terminating  the  contest  then  existing 
between  Spain  and  her  colonies.  The  appeal  was  not  in  vain. 
Through  Mr.  Clay's  exertions,  the  policy  of  recognising  the  in- 
lependence  of  Greece,  and  sending  a  minister  to  that  country 
was  also  at  length  acquiesced  in  ;  and  the  effect  of  that  recog 
nition —  the  first  she  had  experienced — in  rousing  the  spirit  of 
the  struggling  nation,  is  a  matter  of  history. 

The  number  of  treaties  negotiated  by  Mr.  Clay  at  the  seat  of 
the  general  government,  is  greater  than  that  of  all  which  had  ever 
been  previously  concluded  there  from  the  first  adoption  of  the 
constitution.  His  diplomatic  experience  —  his  attractive  man 
ners —  his  facile  and  unceremonious  mode  of  transacting  business, 
rendered  him  a  favorite  with  the  foreign  ministers  at  Washington, 
and  enabled  him  to  procure  from  them  terms  the  most  advantage 
ous  to  the  country.  During  his  incumbency  as  secretary,  he 
concluded  and  signed  treaties  with  Colombia,  Central  America, 
Denmark,  Prussia,  and  the  Hanseatic  republic  ;  and  effected  a 
negotiation  with  Russia  for  the  settlement  of  the  claims  of  Amer 
ican  citizens.  He  also  concluded  a  treaty  with  Austria,  but  did 
not  remain  in  office  to  see  it  signed. 

His  letters  to  Mr.  Gallatin,  our  minister  at  London,  in  relation 
to  the  trade  between  the  United  States  and  the  British  colonies, 
are  documents  of  extraordinary  interest  and  value,  which  ably 
advocate  a  durable  and  obligatory  arrangement  by  treaty,  in  pref 
erence  to  other  modes  of  settlement.  His  letters  to  the  same 
functionary,  on  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  to  our 
charge  at  London,  relative  to  the  northeastern  boundary,  exhibit 
much  research,  and  a  sagacious,  enlightened,  and  truly  American 
spirit.  Never  was  the  diplomacy  of  the  country  so  efficiently 
and  creditably  conducted,  as  when  under  the  charge  of  Henry 
Clay. 

It  has  been  justly  said  that  no  policy  could  be  more  thoroughly 
anti-European,  and  more  completely  American,  than  that  of  Mr. 
Adams's  administration.  He  would  exclude  all  farther  European 
colonization  from  the  American  continent ;  all  interference  of 
European  monarchs,  especially  those  of  the  miscalled  holy  alli 
ance,  in  American  politics ;  he  would  render  his  own  country 


123 

essentially  independent  of  European  work-shops,  by  fostering 
American  arts,  manufactures,  and  science,  and  would  strengthen 
her  power,  by  rendering  her  force  more  available  through  the  in 
strumentality  of  internal  improvements.  To  these  objects  his 
efforts  were  directed. 

Mr.  Clay  had  long  been  the  acknowledged  head  of  the  demo 
cratic  party ;  the  most  vigorous,  eloquent,  and  consistent  cham 
pion  of  their  principles  ;  and  we  may  add,  that  such  he  has  ever 
continued.  In  giving  his  vote  for  Mr.  Adams,  he  believed  — 
and  events  justified  his  belief — that  he  would  secure  to  the 
country  an  administration  attached  to  the  same  leading  policy 
that  had  characterized  the  administrations  of  Madison  and  Mon 
roe,  with  this  additional  advantage  :  that  it  would  be  decidedly 
friendly  to  those  great  measures  of  protection  and  internal  improvto 
ment,  of  which  he  had  been  the  early  and  persevering  advocate. 
But  the  elements  of  opposition,  which  had  remained  inactive 
during  the  eight  years  of  Mr.  Monroe's  presidency,  began  to 
form  and  combine  against  his  successor  almost  before  he  was 
"  warm  in  his  chair."  The  character  of  these  elements  was 
somewhat  heterogeneous  ;  and  the  partisan  managers  were  long 
puzzled  to  find  some  principles  of  cohesion  in  their  opposition. 
The  policy  of  Mr.  Adams  upon  all  important  questions  coincided 
with  that  of  the  majority,  and  was  sanctioned  by  the  example  of 
his  great  democratic  predecessors.  At  the  commencement  of 
his  term  of  office,  he  had  declared  his  intention  to  follow  that 
example  in  the  general  outlines.  He  made  it  a  rule  to  remove 
no  man  from  office,  except  for  official  misconduct,  and  to  regard 
m  the  selection  of  candidates  for  vacancies,  only  their  moral  and 
intellectual  qualifications.  He  thus  voluntarily  relinquished  the 
support  which  he  might  have  derived  from  executive  patronage, 
and  placed  the  success  of  his  administration  simply  upon  the 
merit  of  its  principles  and  its  measures.  What  possible  ground 
of  opposition,  therefore,  could  be  discovered  or  invented  ?  "  No 
matter :  his  administration  must  be  put  down ;"  for  an  army  of 
aspirants  and  office-seekers  were  in  the  field.  In  the  words  of 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  General  Jackson's  supporters, 
the  administration  must  be  put  down,  "  though  as  pure  as  the 
angels  at  the  right  hand  of  God" 


124  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Such  being  the  tone  of  feeling  among  the  opposition,  it  is  not 
a  matter  of  surprise  that  the  weapons  employed  against  Mr. 
Adams  and  his  friends  were  of  a  character  directly  the  opposite 
of  "  angelic."  In  the  first  place,  a  gross  and  utterly  unfounded 
charge  of  corruption  was  brought  against  the  president  and  the 
secretary  of  state.  We  have  seen  how  utterly  exploded,  by  the 
most  positive  and  overwhelming  testimony,  that  miserable  slan 
der  has  been.  Charges  of  extravagance  were  then  made  against 
the  government ;  and  a  paltry  bill  for  crockery  and  furniture  for 
the  White-House  was  magnified  into  an  accusation  against  the 
plain,  frugal,  and  unassuming  Mr.  Adams  of  an  intention  to  ape 
the  extravagance  and  splendor  of  European  potentates.  The  or 
dinary  and  established  expenditures  of  the  government  were  ex- 
^tmined  with  new  and  unexampled  rigor,  for  the  purpose  of  pro 
ducing  the  belief  that  they  originated  with  the  administration ; 
and  an  assertion  on  his  part  of  the  president's  constitutional  right 
to  appoint,  in  the  vacation  of  Congress,  diplomatic  agents  to 
transact  the  foreign  business  of  the  country  was  construed  into  a 
new  and  unconstitutional  power. 

It  having  been  discovered  that  the  secretary  of  state  had,  in 
some  ten  or  dozen  cases,  transferred  the  employment  of  publish 
ing  the  laws  from  one  printing  establishment  to  another,  a  great 
clamor  was  raised  about  an  attempt  to  corrupt  the  press.  The 
secretary  was  charged  with  selecting  the  papers  for  political  and 
personal  objects  ;  and  a  .resolution  was  offered,  in  the  house  of 
representatives,  requiring  him  to  communicate  the  changes  which 
had  been  made,  and  his  reasons  therefor.  But,  on  its  being  dis 
covered  that  the  house  had  no  jurisdiction  of  the  case,  the  inquiry 
was  dropped.  By  way  of  showing  the  consistency  of  the  opposi 
tion,  at  the  very  time  the  detachment  in  the  house  were  arraign 
ing  Mr.  Clay  for  changing  the  publication  of  the  laws  from  one 
newspaper  to  another,  their  brethren  in  the  senate,  under  the 
guidance  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  were  engaged  in  an  attempt  to  de 
prive  the  National  Intelligencer  of  the  printing  of  that  body  ! 

Shortly  before  the  termination  of  the  second  session  of  the 
nineteenth  Congress,  Mr.  Floyd  of  Virginia  announced  to  the 
public  that  the  "  combinations"  for  effecting  the  elevation  of  Gen 
eral  Jackson  were  nearly  complete.  During  the  session,  symp 


THE    COLONIAL    BILL.  125 

toms  of  the  coalition  began  to  appear ;  and  on  several  questions 
an  organized  opposition  was  made  manifest.  Of  these,  we  need 
only  enumerate  the  bankrupt  act,  the  bills  for  the  gradual  im 
provement  of  the  navy,  authorizing  dry  docks  and  a  naval  school, 
the  appropriations  for  surveys  and  internal  improvement,  the  con 
troversy  between  Georgia  and  the  general  government  respecting 
the  Creek  treaty,  the  bills  to  augment  the  duty  on  imported  wool 
lens,  and  closing  the  ports  of  the  United  States  against  British 
vessels  from  the  colonies,  after  a  limited  period. 

With  regard  to  the  colonial  bill,  the  conduct  of  the  succeeding 
administration  upon  the  subject  of  the  West  India  trade  may 
make  a  brief  outline  of  facts  not  inappropriate  in  this  place.  At 
the  first  session  of  the  nineteenth  Congress,  a  bill  was  introduced 
into  the  senate  to  accept,  so  far  as  practicable,  the  terms  prcr«- 
posed  by  the  British  acts  of  1 825,  regulating  the  intercourse  of 
foreign  powers  with  her  West  India  islands.  Owing  to  the  long 
and  interminable  debates  for  political  effect  in  that  body  at  that 
session,  the  bill  was  not  passed,  and  in  the  vacation  the  British 
government  interdicted  the  trade.  The  next  session,  measures 
of  retaliation  were  proposed,  but  no  definite  steps  were  taken 
until  the  close  of  the  session ;  and  by  a  disagreement  between 
the  two  houses,  the  bill  was  lost,  and  the  executive  was  com 
pelled  to  close  our  ports  abruptly  without  any  conditions.  The 
manner  in  which  Mr.  Van  Buren  afterward,  when  secretary  of 
state,  availed  himself  of  this  fact,  to  disparage  the  administration 
of  Mr.  Adams  before  the  British  ministry  and  nation,  is  well 
known :  and  the  mendicant  appeals  which,  in  his  instructions 
to  our  minister  at  the  court  of  St.  James's,  he  directed  to  be 
made  to  the  English  negotiators,  remain  a  stigma  on  the  diplom 
acy  of  the  United  States.  The  West  India  trade  was  a  fair  and 
proper  subject  of  convention  between  the  two  countries,  to  be 
settled  on  the  basis  of  mutual  rights  and  reciprocal  interests, 
The  honor  of  our  country  forbade  any  other  course.  If  England 
would  not  deign  to  treat  on  this  subject,  it  was  not  for  us  to  coax 
her  haughty  ministers  into  concession  by  legislative  enactments 
Such  was  the  elevated  and  patriotic  view  of  the  subject  taken  by 
Mr.  Clay.  Directly  opposite  were  the  views  afterward  taken 
and  the  course  adopted  by  Mr.  Van  Buren. 


126  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

As  Mr.  Adams's  administration  drew  to  a  close,  it  began  to 
De  apparent  that  it  was  not  destined  to  a  second  term.  The 
strongest  appeals  were  made  to  the  sectional  feelings  of  the 
western  states  in  behalf  of  the  candidate  of  the  opposition ;  and 
these  appeals  were  but  too  successful.  In  the  various  sections 
f  the  Union,  opposite  reasons  were  urged  with  effect  against  the 
administration.  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  were  operated 
upon  by  an  assertion,  industriously  circulated,  that  General  Jack 
son  was  the  candidate  of  the  democracy  of  the  country,  and  this 
impression  contributed  to  create  a  strong  party  in  the  states  of 
Maine  and  New  Hampshire.  Nothing  could  be  more  untrue  than 
the  assertion.  Many  of  the  leaders  of  the  old  federal  party  were 
the  most  ardent  personal  opponents  of  Mr.  Adams,  and  became  the 
most  effective  enemies  of  his  administration.  These  men  might 
afterward  be  heard  claiming  to  be  the  orthodox  democratic  party, 
and  denouncing  Henry  Clay — the  early  opponent  of  the  alien 
and  sedition  laws — the  friend  and  supporter  of  Jefferson's  ad 
ministration — the  main  pillar  of  Madison's  —  and  the  most  active 
originator  and  advocate  of  the  last  war — as  a  federalist ! 

The  truth  is  that  it  has  fared  with  the  principles  of  federalism 
as  with  its  men.  In  the  time  of  Mr.  Monroe  there  was  a  gen 
eral  blending  of  parties.  A  new  and  distinct  formation,  on 
grounds  at  first  purely  personal,  was  made  during  the  adminis 
tration  of  General  Jackson.  As  soon  as  there  was  a  division  on 
principles,  the  worst  part  of  the  old  federalists  —  some  of  the 
most  bitter  and  envenomed — the  black-cockade  gentry,  who  had 
passed  their  younger  years  in  writing  pasquinades  on  Mr.  Jef 
ferson's  breeches,  and  had  been  in  the  habit  of  thanking  Heaven 
that  they  had  "  no  democratic  blood  in  their  veins" —  went  over 
to  General  Jackson,  and  carried  with  them  a  spirit  of  ultraism, 
ay,  and  of  ultra-federalism,  which  was  developed  in  the  protest, 
and  proclamation,  and  many  of  the  leading  measures  of  his  ad 
ministration.  The  more  moderate,  prudent,  and  patriotic,  joined 
with  the  democratic  party,  and  formed  the  great  whig  party  of 
the  country.  The  ultras  of  the  old  party  coalesced,  and  the 
combination  was  naturally  tory* 

*  In  one  of  the  skirmishes  between  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Calhoun,  during  the  sub-treasury 
discussion,  Mr.  Clay  took  up,  among  other  topics,  this  question  of  federalism.  Mr.  Calhoun 
had  alluded  to  the  friends  of  his  opponent  as  members  of  the  federal  party. 

"  Sir."  said  Mr.  Clay,  "  I  am  ready  to  go  into  an  examination  with  the  honorable  senator 


ANDREW    JACKSON    ELECTED    PRESIDENT.  127 

Upon  the  assembling  of  the  twentieth  Congress,  it  was  ascer 
tained,  by  the  election  of  the  speaker,  that  a  majority  of  the 
house  was  opposed  to  the  administration ;  and  this  victory  was 
soon  followed  by  such  an  accession  from  those  who  were  uncom 
mitted  in  the  senate  as  to  give  a  majority  to  the  same  party  in 
that  body.  Thenceforward  the  administration  was  not  allowed, 
of  course,  a  fair  trial ;  and  every  question  was  discussed  with  a 
view  to  political  effect. 

At  length,  in  the  autumn  of  1 828,  the  presidential  election 
took  place,  and  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Andrew  Jackson,  by 
one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  votes  in  the  primary  electoral 
colleges,  given  by  sixteen  states,  including  Virginia  and  Georgia, 
which,  in  the  previous  election,  had  cast  their  votes  for  Mr. 
Crawford.  Mr.  Adams  was  supported  by  the  six  New  England 
states ;  by  _New  Jersey,  which  had  previously  voted  against 
him ;  by  Delaware,  and  sixteen  votes  from  New  York,  and  six 
from  Maryland.  Mr.  Calhoun  obtained  the  same  vote  for  vice- 
president,  that  General  Jackson  did  for  president,  except  seven 
votes  in  Georgia,  which  were  thrown  away  upon  William  Smith 
of  South  Carolina.  Mr.  Rush  received  the  whole  vote  of  the 
administration  party  for  vice-president. 

Thus  ended  the  administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  during 
which  our  domestic  and  foreign  affairs  were  never  more  ably 
and  prosperously  conducted.  The  foreign  policy  of  the  govern 
ment  had  only  in  view  the  maintenance  of  the  dignity  of  the 
national  character,  the  extension  of  our  commercial  relations,  and 
the  successful  prosecution  of  the  claims  of  American  citizens 
upon  foreign  governments. 

The  domestic  policy  was  no  less  liberal,  active,  and  decided ; 
and  never  was  there  a  more  groundless  political  libel  than  that 
which  impeached  the  integrity  and  economy  of  that  administra- 

at  any  time,  and  then  we  shall  see  if  there  are  not  more  members  of  that  same  old  federal 
party  among  those  whom  the  senator  has  so  recently  joined  than  on  our  side  of  the  house. 
The  plain  truth  is,  that  it  is  the  old  federal  party  with  whom  he  is  now  acting.  For  all  the 
former  grounds  of  difference  which  distinguished  that  party,  and  were  the  subjects  of  con 
tention  between  them  and  the  republicans,  have  ceased,  from  lapse  of  time  and  change  of 
circumstances,  with  the  exception  of  one,  and  that  is  the  maintenance  and  increase  of  executive 
power.  This  was  a  leading  policy  of  the  federal  party.  A  strong,  powerful,  and  energetic 
executive  was  its  favorite  tenet."  *  *  *  "  I  can  tell  the  gen  leman,  that  he  will  find  the 
true  old  democratic  party,  who  were  for  resisting  the  encroachments  of  power,  and  limiting 
executive  patronage,  on  this  side  of 'the  senate,  and  not  with  his  new  allies,  the  Jackson-Van- 
Even- Democratic  party,  whose  leading  principle  is  to  sustain  the  executive,  and  deny  att 
power  to  the  legislature .  and  which  does  not  hold  a,  solitary  principle  in  common  with  the  r+ 
yublioan  party  of  1793  ' 


128  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLA1. 

tion.  As  the  charge  of  extravagance  was  the  argument  mos 
vehemently  urged  against  Mr.  Adams's  administration,  it  may  be 
well  in  this  place  to  glance  at  its  plausibility.  The  aggregate 
expenditures  of  the  several  administrations  from  1789  to  1838, 
exclusive  of  the  public  debt,  and  payments  under  treaty  stipula 
tions,  including  the  expenses  and  arrearages  of  the  last  war  with 
Great  Britain,  were  : — 

"Washington's  administration,  8  years, $15,890,698  55 

John  Adams's  "  4      "      21,348,356  19 


Jefferson's  8 

Madison's  "  8 

Monroe's  "  8 

J.  Q.  Adams's  "  4 

Jackson's  "  8 


41,100,788  88 

144,684,944  86 

99,363,509  64 

49,725,721  26 

144,579,847  72 


Total $516,693,867  10 

From  this  statement  it  appears  that  the  reforming,  retrenching, 
economical,  democratic  administration  of  General  Jackson,  that 
expressed  such  a  holy  horror  at  Mr.  Adams's  extravagance,  cost 
the  country  as  much  as  the  administration  of  Mr.  Madison,  in 
cluding  the  outlays  of  an  expensive  war  with  Great  Britain. 
Mr.  Van  Buren  retrenched  in  the  same  ratio  with  his  prede 
cessor.  The  first  year  of  his  administration  cost  the  people 
$33,554,341  —  about  three  times  the  average  annual  expenditure 
of  Mr.  Adams  !  During  the  remainder  of  his  term,  the  public 
expenses  were  in  a  like  proportion.  What  measure  of  condem 
nation  should  be  bestowed  upon  the  political  hypocrites  whose 
promised  reforms  and  retrenchments  resulted  in  such  gross  profli 
gacy  and  neglect  of  the  public  interests  ! 

In  March,  1829,  General  Jackson  entered  upon  the  discharge 
of  his  official  duties  as  president.  On  the  1 4th  of  the  same 
month,  Mr.  Clay  left  Washington  for  his  residence  in  Kentucky. 
Before  quitting  that  city,  some  of  the  principal  residents,  as  a 
parting  tribute  of  respect,  gave  him  a  public  dinner.  In  his 
speech  on  the  occasion,  he  briefly  reviewed  the  events  in  which 
he  had  been  an  actor,  during  the  preceding  four  years.  He  al 
luded  to  the  serious  charge  against  him,  which  had  been  brought 
by  General  Jackson,  who,  after  summoning  his  friend  and  only 
witness  (Mr.  Buchanan)  to  establish  it;  and  hearing  that  witness 
promptly  and  unequivocally  deny  aL  knowledge  whatever  of  any 


ATTEMPT    TO    INJURE    HIS    PRIVATE    CREDIT.  129 

transaction  that  could  throw  the  slightest  shade  upon  the  charac 
ter  of  the  accused,  maintained  a  stubborn  and  persevering  silence 
upon  the  subject,  instead  of  magnanimously  acknowledging  his 
error,  and  atoning  for  the  gross  injustice  of  which  he  had  been 
guilty.  "  But,"  said  Mr.  Clay,  "  my  relations  to  that  citizen,  by 
a  recent  event,  are  now  changed.  He  is  the  chief  magistrate  of 
my  country,  invested  with  large  and  extensive  powers,  the  ad 
ministration  of  which  may  conduce  to  its  prosperity,  or  occasion 
its  adversity.  Patriotism  enjoins,  as  a  duty,  that  while  he  is  in 
that  exalted  station,  he  should  be  treated  with  decorum,  and  his* 
official  acts  be  judged  in  a  spirit  of  candor." 

Such  was  the  patriotic  spirit  with  which  Mr.  Clay  regarded 
the  elevation  of  General  Jackson,  and  in  which  he  was  prepared 
to  judge  of  the  acts  of  the  new  administration. 

The  political  enemies  of  Mr.  Clay  were  not,  however,  content 
with  misrepresenting  his  public  course.  They  lifted,  with  a  rude 
and  ruffianly  hand,  the  veil  from  his  private  affairs,  and  attempted 
to  destroy  his  private  credit,  by  charging  him  with  bankruptcy. 
The  consequence  was  the  publication  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Clay 
to  Robert  Wickliffe,  Esq.,  dated  May  24,  1828,  in  which  the 
falsehoods  of  his  assailants  were  fully  confuted.  He  admitted 
that  he  had  incurred  a  heavy  responsibility,  about  ten  years  before, 
as  endorser  for  his  friends,  to  which  cause  his  temporary  retire 
ment  from  public  life,  and  the  renewal  of  his  professional  labors, 
were  to  be  attributed.  The  mortgages  upon  his  estate  did  not 
amount  to  ten  thousand  dollars,  and,  before  the  expiration  of  the 
year,  he  hoped  there  would  not  remain  one  fifth  of  that  sum. 

"I  have  hitherto,"  says  Mr.  Clay,  in  this  letter,  "met  all  my  engagements 
by  the  simplest  of  processes:  that  of  living  within  my  income,  punctually 
paying  interest  when  I  could  not  pay  principal,  and  carefully  preserving  my 
credit.  I  am  not  free  absolutely  from  debt.  I  am  not  rich.  I  never  coveted 
riches.  But  my  estate  would,  even  now,  be  estimated  at  not  much  less  than 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Whatever  it  may  be  worth,  it  is  a  gratifica 
tion  for  me  to  know  that  it  is  the  produce  of  my  own  honest  labor — no  part 
of  it  being  hereditary,  except  one  slave,  who  would  oblige  me  very  much  if 
he  would  accept  his  freedom.  It  is  sufficient,  after  paying  all  my  debts,  to 
leive  my  family  above  want,  if  I  should  be  separated  from  them.  It  is  a 
matter  also  of  consolation  to  me  to  know,  that  this  wanton  exposure  of  my 
private  affairs  can  do  me  no  pecuniary  prejudice.  My  few  creditors  will  not 
allow  their  confidence  in  me  to  be  shaken  by  it.  It  has,  indeed,  led  to  one 
incident,  which  was  at  the  same  time  a  source  of  pleasure  and  of  pain.  A 
friend  lately  called  on  me,  at  the  instance  of  other  friends,  and  informed  rue 
F*  9 


130  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

that  they  were  apprehensive  that  my  private  affairs  were  embarrassed,  and 
that  I  allowed  their  embarrassment  to  prey  upon  my  mind.  He  came,  there 
fore,  with  their  authority,  to  tell  me  that  they  would  contribute  any  sum 
that  I  might  want  to  relieve  me.  The  emotions  which  such  a  proposition 
excited,  can  be  conceived  only  by  honorable  men.  I  felt  most  happy  to  be 
able  to  undeceive  them,  and  to  decline  their  benevolent  proposition." 


X. 

RETURN    TO    KENTUCKY AGAIN    UNITED    STATES    SENATOR. 

THERE  are  few  men  who  can  bear  defeat  more  gracefully,  or 
with  more  unaffected  good  humor,  than  Mr.  Clay.  Relieved  from 
his  official  toils  as  secretary  of  state,  his  health  rapidly  improved, 
and  his  fine  spirits  expanded  unchecked.  On  his  journey  from  the 
seat  of  government,  previous  to  his  arrival  at  Uniontown  in  Penn 
sylvania,  the  roads  being  extremely  bad,  he  sent  his  private  vehicle 
ahead,  and  took  the  stage-coach.  Finding  it  disagreeable  within, 
however,  he  removed  to  an  outside  seat,  next  the  driver,  and,  in 
that  situation,  entered  Uniontown.  The  good  people  of  the  place 
expressed  a  great  deal  of  surprise  at  seeing  the  ex-secretary  in 
that  lofty  and  yet  humble  position.  "  Gentlemen,"  replied  Mr. 
Clay,  "  although  I  am  with  the  outs,  yet  I  can  assure  you  that  the 
ins  behind  me  have  much  the  worst  of  it." 

On  his  way  to  Kentucky,  Mr.  Clay  received  continual  testi 
monials  of  the  attachment  and  esteem  of  the  people.  He  was 
invited  to  innumerable  public  dinners,  but  was  able  to  appear  only 
at  a  few.  At  Frederick  in  Maryland,  he  made  an  admirable 
speech  at  one  of  these  complimentary  festivals,  on  the  18th  of 
March,  1829.  On  the  31  st  of  the  same  month,  he  dined  with  the 
mechanics  at  Wheeling,  whom  he  addressed  principally  in  re 
lation  to  the  American  system — manufactures  and  internal  im 
provements.  He  reached  his  home  at  Ashland,  with  his  family, 
the  6th  of  April,  having  been  met  at  some  distance  from  Lexing 
ton  by  a  large  number  of  friends,  by  whom  he  was  most  affec 
tionately  received. 

On  the  16th  of  May,  a  great  public  dinner  was  given  to  him  at 
Fowler's  garden,  by  his  fellow-townsmen.  Three  thousand  sat 


RETURN    TO    KENTUCKY TRIUMPHANT    RECEPTION.        131 

down  at  the  table  ;  and  Mr.  Clay  spoke  for  the  space  of  one  hour 
and  thirty-five  minutes ;  the  following  appropriate  toast  having 
been  previously  given :  "  Our  distinguished  guest,  friend,  and 
neighbor,  HENRY  CLAY — with  increased  proofs  of  his  worth,  we 
delight  to  renew  the  assurance  of  our  confidence  in  his  patriotism, 
talents,  and  incorruptibility — may  health  and  happiness  attend 
him  in  retirement,  and  a  grateful  nation  do  justice  to  his  virtues." 

Mr.  Clay's  speech,  on  this  occasion,  is  one  of  the  choicest 
specimens  of  his  eloquence,  being  pervaded  by  some  of  the  finest 
characteristics  of  his  style,  although  there  is,  of  course,  an 
absence  of  those  impassioned  appeals,  which  would  have  been 
out  of  place.  The  exordium  is  full  of  pathos  and  beauty.  He 
had  been  separated  for  four  years  from  his  friends  and  neighbors. 
After  devoting  the  best  energies  of  his  prime  to  the  service  of  his 
country,  he  had  been  grossly  traduced  and  injured,  and  his  most 
conspicuous  traducer  had  been  elevated  to  the  presidency.  He 
had  returned  home  once  more  ;  and  now  saw  before  him,  gathered 
together  to  do  him  honor,  to  renew  their  assurances  of  attachment 
and  confidence,  sires  with  whom,  for  more  than  thirty  years,  he 
had  interchanged  friendly  offices — their  sons,  grown  up  during 
his  absence  in  the  public  councils,  accompanying  them  —  and  all 
prompted  by  ardent  attachment,  surrounding  and  saluting  him  as 
if  he  belonged  to  their  own  household. 

After  alluding,  in  the  happiest  manner,  to  some  of  these  cir 
cumstances,  Mr.  Clay  reviewed  briefly  the  course  of  the  past  ad 
ministration — referred  to  the  clamor  which  had  been  raised 
against  Mr.  Adams  for  proscription  —  when  the  fact  was,  that  not 
a  solitary  officer  of  the  government,  from  Maine  to  Louisiana, 
was  dismissed  on  account  of  his  political  opinions,  during  the 
whole  of  Mr.  Adams's  administration — contrasted  this  course 
with  that  which  President  Jackson  commenced  so  soon  after  his 
installation — and  eloquently  pointed  out  the  evil  consequences  of 
the  introduction  of  a  tenure  of  public  office,  which  depended  upon 
personal  attachment  to  the  chief  magistrate. 

In  concluding  his  remarks,  Mr.  Clay  touchingly  expressed  his 
gratitude  to  his  fellow-citizens  of  Kentucky,  who  had  "  constantly 
poured  upon  him  a  bold  and  unabated  stream  of  innumerable 
favors."  The  closing  sentences  of  the  speech  are  in  the  genuine 


i32  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLA.Y. 

language  ot  the  heart  which  can  not  be  counterfeited,  and  which 
none  can  so  eloquently  employ  as  Henry  Clay. 

"When,"  said  he,  "I  felt  as  if  I  should  sink  beneath  the  storm  of  abuse 
and  detraction,  which  was  violently  raging  around  me,  I  have  found  myself 
upheld  and  sustained  by  your  encouraging  voice  and  your  approving  smiles. 
I  have,  doubtless,  committed  many  faults  and  indiscretions,  over  which  you 
have  thrown  the  broad  mantle  of  your  charity.  But  I  can  say,  and  in  the 
presence  of  my  God  and  of  this  assembled  multitude  I  will  say,  that  I  have 
honestly  and  faithfully  served  my  country ;  that  I  have  never  wronged  it ; 
and  that,  however  unprepared  I  lament  that  I  am  to  appear  in  the  Divine 
Presence  on  other  accounts,  I  invoke  the  stern  justice  of  his  judgment  on 
my  public  conduct,  without  the  smallest  apprehension  of  his  displeasure." 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1829,  Mr.  Clay  visited 
several  parts  of  the  state  of  his  adoption,  and  everywhere  he  was 
hailed  as  a  friend  and  public  benefactor.  On  the  17th  of  De 
cember,  he  addressed  the  Kentucky  Colonization  Society,  at 
Frankfort  in  a  speech,  in  which  he  eloquently  vindicated  the 
policy  and  character  of  that  benevolent  institution.  He  had  been 
an  early  and  constant  advocate  of  the  system  of  colonization.  In 
his  speech  before  the  American  Colonization  Society,  delivered 
the  20th  of  January,  1827,  in  the  hall  of  the  house  of  representa 
tives  at  Washington,  we  find  the  following  impressive  passage  :  — 

"  It  is  now  a  little  upward  of  ten  years,  since  a  religious,  amiable,  and 
benevolent  resident  of  this  city  (Mr.  Caldwell)  first  conceived  the  idea  of 
planting  a  colony,  from  the  United  States,  of  free  people  of  color,  on  the 
western  shores  of  Africa.  He  is  no  more,  and  the  noblest  eulogy  which 
could  be  pronounced  on  him,  would  be  to  inscribe  upon  his  tomb  the  merited 
epitaph — 'Here  lies  the  projector  of  the  American  Colonization  Society.' 
Among  others,  to  whom  he  communicated  the  project,  was  the  person  who 
now  has  the  honor  of  addressing  you.  My  first  impressions,  like  those  of  all 
who  have  not  fully  investigated  the  subject,  were  against  it.  They  yielded 
to  his  earnest  persuasions  and  my  own  reflections,  and  I  finally  agreed  with 
him  that  the  experiment  was  worthy  a  fair  trial." 

After  presenting,  in  a  clear  and  forcible  light,  the  project  of  the 
society  for  the  gradual  extinction  of  slavery,  Mr.  Clay  remarked 
in  regard  to  it : — 

"  All,  or  any  one  of  the  states  which  tolerate  slavery  may  adopt  and  exe 
cute  ;t,  by  co-operation  or  separate  exertion.  If  I  could  be  instrumental  in 
eradicating  this  deepest  stain  upon  the  character  of  our  country,  and  removing 
all  cause  of  reproach  on  account  of  it  by  foreign  nations — If  1  could  only  be 
instrumental  in  ridding  of  this  foul  blot  that  revered  state  that  gave  me  birth, 
or  that  not  less  beloved  state  which  kindly  adopted  me  as  her  son,  I  would  not 
exchange  the  proud  satisfaction  which  I  should  enjoy,  for  the  honor  of  all  thi 
triumphs  ever  decreed  to  the  most  successful  conqueror" 


VISITS    NEW    ORLEANS.  133 

To  the  system  of  colonization,  we  believe,  Mr.  Clay  yet  looks    . 
as  a  means  for  diminishing  the  proportion  of  the  black  population 
to  the  white  in  the  slave  states,  until  emancipation  would  be  com 
patible  with  the  security  and  interests  of  the  latter. 

In  January,  1 830,  Mr.  Clay  made  a  visit  to  one  of  his  married 
daughters  at  New  Orleans.  Although  appearing  there  as  a 
private  citizen,  he  found  it  impossible  to  escape  those  attentions 
which  the  public  gratitude  suggested.  He  was  daily  visited  by 
crowds  of  persons,  including  members  of  the  legislature  and 
judges  of  the  different  courts.  The  ship-masters,  who  were  in 
port,  waited  in  a  body  upon  him  as  the  champion  of  free  trade 
and  sailors'  rights.  Declining  an  invitation  to  a  public  dinner, 
he  left  New  Orleans  for  Natchez,  on  his  way  home,  the  9th  of 
March.  As  the  boat  in  which  he  had  embarked,  quitted  the  pier, 
the  scene  was  of  the  most  animated  description.  The  levee  and 
the  tops  of  the  steamboats,  a  great  number  of  which  were  in  port, 
exhibited  a  crowded  and  almost  unbroken  mass  of  spectators,  col 
lected  to  see  him  and  do  him  honor.  The  shouting  multitude, 
the  elevation  of  flags,  and  the  roar  of  cannons,  which  burst  from 
the  crowd  of  surrounding  vessels,  as  the  boat  moved  off,  pre 
sented  altogether  one  of  the  most  imposing  spectacles  that  could 
be  imagined.  It  was  a  grand  civic  ovation,  as  honorable  to  the 
subject  of  it  as  any  triumph  which  ever  greeted  a  military  con 
queror. 

At  Natchez,  persons  from  all  parts  of  Mississippi  wer^  waiting 
to  meet  him.  The  press  of  the  crowd  into  the  steamboat  con 
taining  the  illustrious  visiter  was  so  great  as  to  excite  alarm  ;  and 
the  mass  collected  on  the  wharf  was  so  dense,  that  much  time 
and  exertion  were  required  to  make  way  through  it.  Soon  after 
his  arrival,  he  accepted  a  pressing  invitation  to  a  public  dinner. 
A  vast  concourse  assembled  on  the  occasion.  His  speech  is 
described  as  unusually  felicitous.  He  was  several  times  obliged 
to  stop  speaking  for  some  minutes  —  while  the  enthusiasm  of  his 
hearers  exhausted  itself  in  repeated  rounds  of  applause.  In  the 
course  of  his  remarks,  having  occasion  to  allude  to  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans,  he  paid  a  generous  tribute  to  Gen.  Jackson. 
Henry  Clay  never  was  the  man  to  detract  from  the  merits  o*'  even 
his  most  unrelenting  opponents. 


-- 


134  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

On  the  27th  of  March,  Mr.  Clay  reached  Lexington,  having 
declined  numerous  invitations  to  public  dinners  on  his  route.  He 
had  stopped  on  his  way,  unpremeditatedly,  at  Donaldsonville 
the  new  seat  of  government  of  Louisiana,  to  see  the  public  build 
ings,  and  pay  his  respects  to  some  of  his  old  friends  and  ac 
quaintances.  Unexpectedly  entering  the  hall  of  the  house  of 
representatives,  he  was  immediately  recognised,  and  the  whole 
body,  including  the  speaker  and  members  of  all  parties,  simulta 
neously  rose  to  receive  him. 

In  the  summer  of  1830,  having  business  in  the  circuit  and  dis 
trict  courts  of  Ohio,  he  visited  Columbus,  where  he  was  cordially 
welcomed  by  the  mechanics,  at  whose  celebration  the  following 
appropriate  toast  was  given  : — 

"Our  inestimable  guest,  HENRY  CLAY.  An  efficient  laborer  in  support  of 
the  industry  of  the  country.  Farmers  and  mechanics  know  how  to  appre 
ciate  his  services." 

His  entry  into  Cincinnati  was  quite  imposing.  All  classes 
assembled  to  welcome  his  approach.  He  here  dined  with  the 
mechanics,  and  his  speech  upon  the  occasion  is  an  eloquent  vin 
dication  of  the  American  system,  and  a  just  rebuke  of  the  odious 
doctrine  of  nullification,  which  was  then  beginning  to  be  preach 
ed  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia. 

In  the  autumn  of  1831,  Mr.  Clay  was  elected  to  the  senate  ot 
the  United  States  by  the  legislature  of  Kentucky,  by  the  follow 
ing  vote  :  In  the  senate,  Henry  Clay,  1 8  ;  Richard  M.  John 
son,  19  ;  Warden  Pope,  1.  In  the  house  of  delegates,  Clay,  55; 
Johnson,  45. —  At  the  first  session  of  the  twenty-second  Con 
gress,  he  presented  his  credentials,  and  took  his  seat  once  more 
in  a  body  where,  twenty-five  years  before,  he  had  made  his  in 
fluence  felt,  and  his  talents  respected. 

Contemporaneous  with  his  reappearance  in  the  senate,  was 
the  meeting  of  the  National  Republican  Convention,  which  as 
sembled  at  Baltimore,  on  the  twelfth  of  December,  1831,  and 
unanimously  nominated  HENRY  CLAY  to  the  office  of  president 
of  the  United  States,  and  JOHN  SERGEANT  to  that  of  vice-presi 
dent. 

The  subject  of  the  tariff  began  to  be  vehemently  agitated  in 
Congress  early  in  the  session  of  1831 -'32.  The  discontent  ot 


AGAIN    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES    SENATE.  135 

the  south  was  assuming  an  alarming  aspect ;  and  the  system  of 
protection,  which  Mr.  Clay  had  labored  so  long  and  incessantly 
to  establish,  was  threatened  with  material  qualifications,  if  not  a 
complete  overthrow.  In  that  conciliatory  spirit,  which  he  had 
manifested  on  many  critical  occasions,  he  now  approached  this 
exciting  topic.  On  the  ninth  of  January,  1832,  he  introduced  a 
resolution,  providing  that  the  existing  duties  upon  articles  im 
ported  from  foreign  countries,  and  not  coming  into  competition 
with  similar  articles  made  or  produced  within  the  United  States, 
ought  to  be  forthwith  abolished,  except  the  duties  upon  wines  or 
silks,  and  that  they  ought  to  be  reduced  ;  and  that  the  committee 
on  finance  be  instructed  to  report  a  bill  accordingly.  This  reso 
lution  he  sustained  in  an  admirable  speech  of  about  two  hours' 
duration,  in  which  he  spoke  warmly  in  favor  of  the  maintenance 
of  the  protective  policy  and  that  of  internal  improvement. 

Mr.  Hayne  followed  in  reply  ;  and  on  the  second  of  February, 
the  subject  being  still  under  discussion  before  the  senate,  Mr. 
Clay  commenced  his  ever-memorable  speech  in  defence  of  the 
American  system  against  the* British  colonial  system.  It  was  con 
tinued  on  the  next  day,  and  finally  completed  on  the  sixth  of  the 
same  month.  Such  a  chain  of  irrefragable  argument  as  it  pre 
sents,  with  facts  the  most  cogent  and  appropriate,  has  rarely  been 
forged  by  human  ingenuity.  It  will  be  referred  to  by  future 
statesmen  as  their  political  text-book,  when  the  protective  policy 
\  is  called  in  question. 

After  an  impressive  exordium,  he  alludea  to  the  distress  of  the 
country  after  the  war.  The  period  of  greatest  distress  was  seven 
years  previous  to  the  year  1824 :  the  period  of  greatest  prosper 
ity  the  seven  years  following  that  act.  He  then  gave  a  picture 
of  the  flourishing  condition  of  the  country.  He  maintained  thai 
all  the  predictions  of  the  enemies  of  the  tariff,  in  1824,  had 
been  falsified  by  experience — that  all  the  benefits  which  he 
had  anticipated  had  been  realized.  He  alluded  to  all  the  in 
terests  now  protected  —  all  mechanic  arts  —  navigation — agri 
culture —  and  manufactures.  He  argued  that  the  tariff  began 
in  1789,  which  established  the  great  principle  of  protection.  It 
was  the  second  act  of  the  first  Congress  —  sanctioned  by  the 
Father  of  his  country,  and  most  of  the  eminent  statesmen  of  thai 


136  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

day.  Mr.  Clay  then  traced  the  history  of  the  subject  down  t<- 
1816;  commented  on  the  tariff  of  that  year,  its  object,  extent, 
and  policy ;  then  the  tariff  of  1 824  ;  the  amendment  of  the  sys 
tem  in  1828  —  the  bill  of  which  year  was  framed  on  principles  di 
rectly  adverse  to  the  declared  wishes  of  the  friends  of  the  policy  of 
protection,  although  the  error  then  perpetrated  was  corrected  by 
subsequent  legislation. 

After  a  graphic  description  of  the  beneficial  effects  of  the  pol 
icy  which  they  were  now  called  upon  to  subvert,  Mr.  Clay  asked 
what  was  the  substitute  proposed  by  those  whose  design  was  the 
immediate  or  gradual  destruction  of  the  American  system  ?  The 
reply  is  as  appropriate  to  the  enemies  of  the  system  now  as  it 
was  ten  years  ago. 

"Free  Trade! — Free  Trade!*  The  call  for  free  trade  is  as  unavailing  as 
the  cry  of  a  spoiled  child,  in  his  nurse's  arms,  for  the  moon  or  the  stars  that 
glitter  in  the  firmament  of  heaven.  It  never  has  existed.  It  never  will  ex 
ist.  Trade  implies  at  least  two  parties.  To  be  free,  it  should  be  fair,  equal, 
and  reciprocal.  But  if  we  throw  our  ports  wide  open  to  the  admission  of 
foreign  productions,  free  of  all  duty,  what  ports,  of  any  other  foreign  nations, 
shall  we  find  open  to  the  free  admission  of  our  surplus  produce?  We  may 
break  down  all  barriers  to  free  trade,  on  our  part,  but  they  will  not  be  com 
plete  until  foreign  powers  shall  have  removed  theirs.  There  would  be  free 
dom  on  one  side,  and  restrictions,  prohibitions,  and  exclusions,  on  the  other. 
The  bolts,  and  the  bars,  and  the  chains  of  all  other  nations  will  remain  un 
disturbed."  ****<'  Gentlemen  deceive  themselves.  It  is  not  free 
trade  tfiat  they  are  recommending  to  our  acceptance.  It  is,  in  effect,  the 
British  colonial  system  that  we  are  invited  to  adopt ;  and  if  their  policy  pre 
vail,  it  will'  lead  substantially  to  the  recolonization  of  these  states,  under  the 
commercial  dominion  of  Great  Britain" 

In  the  course  of  his  speech,  Mr.  Clay  had  occasion  to  intro 
duce  the  following  remarks  upon  the  Irish  character.  They 
show  his  high  appreciation  of  the  worth  of  an  important  class  of 
our  adopted  fellow-citizens  : — 

"  Of  all  foreigners,  none  amalgamate  themselves  so  quickly  with  our  peo 
ple  as  the  natives  of  the  Emerald  Isle.  In  some  of  the  visions  which  have 
passed  through  my  imagination,  I  have  supposed  that  Ireland  was,  origin 
ally,  part  and  parcel  of  this  continent,  and  that,  by  some  extraordinary  con 
vulsion  of  nature,  it  was  torn  from  America,  and,  drifting  across  the  ocean, 
was  placed  in  the  unfortunate  vicinity  of  Great  Britain.  The  same  open- 
heartedness,  the  same  generous  hospitality,  the  same  careless  and  uncalcu- 

*  "  Fair  Trade  and  Sailors'  Rights,"  was  the  toast  given  by  the  late  Mr.  Gilmer,  the  day 
of  the  fatal  accident  on  board  the  Princeton.  The  substitution  of  a  single  word  illuminates 
the  whole  subject  A  "  fair  trade"  is  what  Mr.  Clay  has  always  aimed  to  secure  for  hi* 
country. 


LETTER    OF    THOMAS    H.    BENTON.  13? 

lating  indifference  about  human  life,  characterize  the  inhabitants  of  both 
countries.  Kentucky  has  been  sometimes  called  the  Ireland  of  America. 
And  I  have  no  doubt  that,  if  the  current  of  emigration  were  reversed,  and 
set  from  America  upon  the  shores  of  Europe,  instead  of  bearing  from  Europe 
to  America,  every  American  emigrant  to  Ireland  would  there  find,  as  every 
Irish  emigrant  here  finds,  a  hearty  welcome  and  a  happy  home  !" 

On  the  13th  of  March,  Mr.  Dickerson,  from  the  committee  on 
manufactures,  reported,  in  conformity  with  Mr.  Clay's  resolution, 
a  bill  for  repealing  the  duties  upon  certain  specified  articles  of 
import.  The  bill  was  opposed  at  the  threshold  because  it  did 
not  embrace  the  whole  subject  of  the  tariff;  because  it  made  no 
reduction  of  duties  upon  protected  articles.  An  animated  debate 
ensued,  and  the  bill  was  laid  upon  the  table.  After  undergoing 
numerous  modifications  in  both  houses,  it  was  finally  passed  by 
Congress  in  July,  1832.  By  this  new  law,  the  principles  for 
which  Mr.  Clay  and  the  rest  of  the  friends  of  domestic  industry 
had  contended,  were  preserved.  The  revenue  was  greatly  re 
duced,  but  the  protective  system  remained  unimpaired.  Of  Mr. 
Clay's  efforts,  in  the  establishment  of  that  system,  no  one  has 
more  impressively  spoken  than  Thomas  Hart  Benton,  senator  in 
Congress  from  Missouri,  who,  in  a  circular  signed  by  him,  and 
first  published  in  the  "Missouri  Intelligencer,"  October  22,  1824, 
gives  utterance  to  these  just  and  eloquent  sentiments  : — 

"  The  principles  which  would  govern  Mr.  Clay's  administration,  if  elected, 
are  well-known  to  the  nation.  They  have  been  displayed  upon  the  floor 
of  Congress  for  the  last  seventeen  years.  They  constitute  a  system  of  AMER 
ICAN  POLICY,  based  on  the  agriculture  and  manufactures  of  his  own  country 
— upon  interior  as  well  as  foreign  commerce — upon  internal  as  well  as  sea 
board  improvement — upon  the  independence  of  the  new  world,  and  close 
commercial  alliances  with  Mexico  and  South  America.  It  is  said  that  others 
would  pursue  the  same  system ;  we  answer  that  the  founder  of  a  system  is 
the  natural  executor  of  his  own  work ;  that  the  most  efficient  protector  of 
American  iron,  lead,  hemp,  wool,  and  cotton  wonld  be  the  triumphant  cham 
pion  of  the  new  tariff;  the  safest  friend  to  interior  commerce  would  be  the 
statesman  who  has  proclaimed  the  Mississippi  to  be  the  sea  of  the  west ;  the 
most  zealous  promoter  of  internal  improvements  would  be  the  president 
who  has  triumphed  over  the  president  who  opposed  the  construction  of  na 
tional  roads  and  canals;  the  most  successful  applicant  for  treaties  with 
Mexico  and  South  America  would  be  the  eloquent  advocate  of  their  own  in 
dependence, 

"THOMAS  HART  BENTON " 


138  LIFE    OF    HENR1T    CLAY. 

XI. 

NULLIFICATION THE    TARIFF    COMPROMISE. 

THE  amended  tariff  was  received  with  little  favor,  by  the 
south.  Nullification  grew  daily  bolder  in  its  denunciation  and 
menaces  ;  and  the  Union  seemed  to  be  greatly  in  danger.  On 
the  24th  of  November,  1832,  the  South  Carolina  convention 
passed  their  ordinance,  declaring  the  revenue  laws  of  the  United 
States  null  and  void ;  and  soon  afterward  the  legislature  of  the 
state  met,  ratified  the  proceedings  of  the  convention,  and  passed 
laws  for  the  organization  of  the  militia  and  the  purchase  of  mu 
nitions  and  ordnance. 

In  the  midst  of  these  troubles,  the  presidential  contest  took 
place,  and  resulted  in  the  reelection  of  General  Jackson  over  the 
opposing  candidates,  Henry  Clay,  John  Floyd  of  Virginia,  and 
William  Wirt. 

On  the  10th  of  December,  1832,  soon  after  the  meeting  of 
Congress,  President  Jackson  issued  his  proclamation,  announcing 
his  determination  to  enforce  the  revenue  laws,  and  exhorting  the 
citizens  of  South  Carolina  to  pause  in  their  disorganizing  career, 
This  remonstrance  produced  little  effect.  It  was  followed,  on 
the  20th  of  the  same  month,  by  a  counter-proclamation  from 
Governor  Hayne,  warning  the  citizens  of  South  Carolina  against 
the  attempt  of  the  president  to  seduce  them  from  their  allegiance, 
and  exhorting  themt  in  disregard  of  his  threats,  to  be  prepared 
to  sustain  the  state  against  the  arbitrary  measures  of  the  federal 
executive. 

The  protective  system  was  at  this  moment  in  imminent  hazard 
of  being  destroyed.  General  Jackson's  administration  was  al 
ways  inimical  to  that  policy,  originated  and  principally  supported 
as  it  had  been  by  a  hated  rival.  The  tariff  became  the  great 
question  of  the  session.  It  was  referred  to  the  committee  of 
ways  and  means,  where  it  was  remodelled  ;  and  on  the  27th  of 
December,  a  bill  was  reported,  which  was  understood  to  embody 
the  views  of  the  administration.  It  proposed  a  diminution  of  the 
duties  on  all  the  protected  articles,  to  take  effect  immediately, 


PROGRESS    OF    NULLIFICATION.  139 

and  a  further  diminution  on  the  2d  of  March,  1834.  The  subject 
was  discussed  from  the  8th  to  the  16th  of  January,  1833,  when 
a  message  was  received  from  the  president,  communicating  the 
South  Carolina  ordinance  and  nullifying  laws,  together  with  his 
own  views  as  to  what  should  be  done  under  the  existing  state 
of  affairs.  On  the  twenty-first  of  the  same  month,  the  judiciary 
committee  of  the  senate  reported  a  bill  to  enforce  the  collection 
of  the  revenue,  where  any  obstructions  were  offered  to  the  officers 
employed  in  that  duty. 

The  aspect  of  affairs  was  now  alarming  in  the  extreme.  The 
administration  party  in  the  house  had  shown  itself  utterly  inca 
pable  of  devising  a  tariff  likely  to  be  accepted  by  a  majority  of 
that  body.  The  session  was  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close.  South 
Carolina  had  deferred  the  period  of  its  collision  with  the  general 
government  in  the  hope  that  some  measure  of  adjustment  would 
be  adopted  by  Congress.  This  hope  seemed  to  be  daily  grow 
ing  fainter.  Should  the  enforcing  bill  not  be  carried  into  effect 
against  the  nullifiers,  the  tariff  was  still  menaced  by  the  federal 
administration,  insidiously  hostile  to  the  protective  system. 

At  this  juncture,  Henry  Clay,  deeply  impressed  with  the  im 
portance  of  the  crisis,  stepped  forward  to  reconcile  conflicting 
interests  and  to  avert  the  dire  consequences  which  would  result 
from  the  further  delay  of  an  adjustment.  On  the  eleventh  of 
February,  he  introduced  his  celebrated  COMPROMISE  BILL,  pro 
viding  for  a  gradual  reduction  of  duties  until  1842,  when  twenty 
per  cent,  at  a  home  valuation  should  be  the  rate,  "  until  otherwise 
regulated  by  law." 

Mr.  Clay  introduced  this  bill  with  some  pertinent  and  impres 
sive  remarks,  in  which  he  deplored  the  distracted  and  portentous 
condition  of  the  country,  and  appealed  strongly  to  the  patriotism 
and  good  sense  of  Congress  to  apply  a  remedy.  The  bill  under 
went  a  long  and  vehement  discussion.  None  could  deny  the 
purity  and  loftiness  of  the  motives  which  had  led  to  its  presenta 
tion  ;  but  it  was  vehemently  opposed  by  many.  Mr.  Smith,  of 
Maryland,  opposed  it,  because  "  it  contained  nothing  but  protec 
tion  from  beginning  to  end."  Mr.  Forsyth  exulted  over  the  ad 
mission,  which  had  been  made  by  Mr.  Clay,  that  "  the  tariff  was 
in  danger." — "  It  is,"  said  Mr.  F.,  "  at  its  last  gasp — no  helle- 


140  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

bore  can  cure  it."      The  southern  members   opposed  the  bill 
mainly  because  it  provided  for  a  home  valuation. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  debate,  a  personal  difficulty  arose  be 
tween  Mr.  Poindexter,  of  Mississippi,  and  Mr.  Webster.  The 
former,  in  the  course  of  his  reply  to  a  very  powerful  attack  from 
Mr.  Webster  upon  the  compromise  bill  of  Mr.  Clay,  made  refer 
ence  to  the  course  of  Mr.  W.,  during  the  war  of  1812.  Mr. 
Webster  declined  all  explanation,  and  Mr.  Poindexter  immedi 
ately  declared  that  he  "  felt  the  most  perfect  contempt  for  the 
senator  from  Massachusetts."  Mr.  Clay  interfered,  with  his 
usual  generosity,  and  in  a  few  remarks,  complimentary  alike  to 
both  senators,  effected  a  mutually  satisfactory  explanation. 

Mr.  Clay  had  conceived  the  idea  of  the  compromise  in  Phila 
delphia  in  December,  1 832,  when  he  was  passing  a  few  weeks 
with  his  brother-in-law,  the  late  James  Brown,  Esq.,  who  had 
fixed  his  residence  in  that  city,  after  his  mission  to  France.  The 
re-election  of  General  Jackson  to  the  presidency  had  been  made 
known  the  month  before,  and  Mr.  Clay  had  commenced  his  jour 
ney  from  Ashland  to  Washington  not  in  the  best  spirits  but  re 
solved  to  do  his  duty.  Jackson's  power  was  then  at  its  zenith. 
He  had  vetoed  the  charter  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States.  He 
was  triumphantly  re-elected.  His  power  seemed  resistless. 
Nevertheless,  Mr.  Clay  was  resolved  to  fight  on,  and  to  fight  to 
the  last. 

He  believed  the  president  insincere  in  his  profession  of  attach 
ment  to  the  protective  policy ;  that,  under  the  delusive  name  of 
a  judicious  tariff,  he  concealed  the  most  deadly  and  determined 
hostility  to  the  protection  of  American  industry.  Mr.  Clay  saw 
the  partisans  of  "  free  trade"  supporting  General  Jackson,  with 
the  greatest  zeal ;  and  knew  that  some  of  them  counted  upon  sub 
verting  the  whole  system  through  the  power  and  influence  of  that 
arbitrary  chief  magistrate.  He  saw  many  of  the  members  of 
Congress  from  states  known  to  be  friendly  to  the  preservation 
of  that  policy,  yet  willing  to  go  secretly,  if  not  openly,  as  far  as 
they  dared  go  in  asserting  the  overthrow  of  that  policy. 

In  the  meantime,  nullification  had  assumed  a  threatening  as 
pect.  The  supporters  of  that  heresy  had  gone  so  far  that,  if  no 
change  in  the  tariff  took  place,  they  must  fight  or  be  for  ever  dis- 


THE    COMPROMISE    ACT.  141 

graced.  Mr.  Clay  thought  that  if  a  civil  wai?  were  once  begun 
it  might  extend  itself  to  all  the  southern  states,  which,  although 
they  did  not  approve  of  nullification,  would  probably  not  be  wil 
ling  to  stand  by  and  see  South  Carolina  crushed  for  extreme  zeal 
in  a  cause,  which  was  common  to  them  all. 

Such  were  the  circumstances,  under  which,  during  the  leisure 
Mr.  Clay  enjoyed  with  his  friend,  Mr.  Brown,  in  Philadelphia, 
he  directed  his  mind  to  the  consideration  of  some  healing  scheme 
for  the  existing  public  troubles. 

The  terms  of  the  compromise  act  substantially  as  it  passed, 
were  the  result  of  Mr.  Clay's  reflections  at  that  time.  He  com 
municated  them  to  his  friend,  the  lamented  Senator  Johnston, 
from  Lousiana,  who  concurred  with  him  heartily.  A  committee 
of  manufactures,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Bovie,  Dupont,  Richards, 
and  others,  waited  on  Mr.  Clay  in  Philadelphia,  to  consult  with 
him  on  the  impending  dangers  to  the  protective  policy.  To  them 
he  broached  his  scheme,  and  they  approved  it.  He  mentioned 
it  to  Mr.  Webster  in  Philadelphia,  but  that  distinguished  senator 
did  not  agree  with  him.  On  reaching  Washington,  Mr.  Clay 
communicated  it  to  many  practical  manufacturers,  to  Hezekiah 
Niles,  Mr  Simmons  of  the  senate,  from  Rhode  Island,  and  others. 

They  agreed  with  him,  and  every  practical  manufacturer  of 
that  day  with  whom  he  conversed  (except  Mr.  Ellicott,  of  Mary 
land),  assented  to  the  project.  Most  of  their  friends  in  Congress, 
especially  in  the  senate,  followed  their  example.  The  chief  op 
position,  it  was  thought,  was  to  be  traced  to  Mr.  Webster  and 
gentlemen  who  had  a  great  deference  for  the  opinion  of  the  Mas 
sachusetts  senator. 

Mr.  Clay's  own  convictions  being  thus  strengthened  by  the 
opinions  of  practical  men,  he  resolved  to  proceed.  He  had  no 
interviews  with  southern  members  on  the  subject  of  the  contem 
plated  proposal,  until  he  had  prepared  and  was  about  to  submit 
the  bill ;  at  which  time,  he  had  one  or  two  interviews  with  Mr. 
Calhoun,  at  Mr.  Clay's  lodgings.  But  through  his  friend,  Gov 
ernor  Letcher  of  Kentucky,  who  was  intimate  with  Mr.  Mc- 
Duffie  and  other  southern  gentlemen,  Mr.  Clay  ascertained 
their  views.  He  found  one  highly  favorable  state  of  feeling— 
that  they  were  so  indignant  with  General  Jackson  for  his  procla- 


142  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

mation,  and  his  determination  to  put  down  the  nullifiers  by  force 
if  necessary,  that  they  greatly  preferred  the  difficulty  should  beset" 
tied  by  Mr.  Clay  rather  than  by  the  administration. 

Mr.  J.  M.  Clayton  of  Delaware  entered  with  great  zeal  into 
the  views  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  seconded  his  exertions  with  untiring 
able,  constant,  and  strenuous  endeavors.  Often  he  would  say  to 
him,  looking  at  Mr.  Calhoun  and  other  members  from  South  Car 
olina,  "  Well,  Clay,  these  are  clever  fellows,  and  it  won't  do  to 
let  old  Jackson  hang  them.  We  must  save  them  if  possible." 
Mr.  Clayton  belonged  to  a  mess  of  seven  or  eight  senators,  every 
one  of  whom  was  interested  in  the  preservation  of  the  protective 
policy.  Without  their  votes,  it  was  impossible  that  the  compro 
mise  should  pass.  They,  through  Mr.  Clayton,  insisted  upon  the 
home  valuation,  as  a  sine  qua  non,  from  which  they  would  never 
depart.  Mr.  Clay  told  them  that  he  would  not  give  it  up ;  and 
the  compromise  bill  never  could  have  passed  without  that  feature 
of  it. 

The  southern  senators  had  declared  that  they  would  be  con 
tent  with  whatever  would  satisfy  the  South  Carolina  senators. 
Mr.  Calhoun  had  manifested  strong  objections  to  the  home  valu 
ation.  Mr.  Clay  told  him  that  he  must  concur  in  it,  or  the  meas 
ure  would  be  defeated.  Mr.  Calhoun  appeared  very  reluctant  to 
do  so  ;  and  Mr.  Clay  went  to  the  senate  on  the  day  when  the 
bill  was  to  be  decided,  uncertain  as  to  what  its  fate  would  be 
When  the  bill  was  taken  up,  Mr.  Calhoun  rose  in  his  place 
and  agreed  to  the  home  valuation,  evidently,  however,  with  re 
luctance. 

Two  great  leading  motives  operated  with  Mr.  Clay  in  bring 
ing  forward  and  supporting  his  measure  of  compromise.  The 
first  was,  that  he  believed  the  whole  protective  policy  to  be  in 
the  most  imminent  peril  from  the  influence  of  General  Jackson 
and  the  dominion  of  his  party.  He  believed  that  it  could  nol 
possibly  survive  that  session  of  Congress  or  the  next,  which  would 
open  with  a  vast  increase  of  that  influence  and  power.  He  had 
seen  the  gradual  but  insidious  efforts  to  undermine  the  policy, 
sometimes  openly  avowed,  frequently  craftily  concealed.  He 
had  seen  that  a  bill  was  actually  introduced  by  Mr.  Verplanck, 
and  then  pending  in  the  house  of  representatives,  which  would 


HIS    MOTIVES    FOR    THE    COMPROMISE.  143 

have  utterly  subverted  the  whole  policy.  He  knew,  or  believed, 
that  there  was  a  majority  in  the  house,  willing,  though  afraid,  to 
pass  the  bill.  Witnessing  the  progress  of  that  party,  he  did  not 
doubt  that  at  the  next  session  at  least,  they  would  acquire  strength 
and  courage  sufficient  to  pass  the  bill.  He  could  not  contem 
plate  the  ruin,  distress,  destruction,  which  would  ensue  from  its 
passage,  without  feelings  of  horror.  He  believed  that  the  com 
promise  would  avert  these  disasters,  and  secure  adequate  protec 
tion  until  the  30th  June,  1842.  And  he  hoped,  that  in  the  mean 
time  the  public  mind  would  become  enlightened,  and  reconciled 
,o  a  policy,  which  he  had  ever  believed  essential  to  the  national 
prosperity.  But  for  the  partial  experiments,  which  were  made  upon 
the  currency  of  the  country,  leading  to  the  utmost  disorder  in  the 
exchanges,  and  the  business  of  society,  it  is  yet  the  belief  of  Mr. 
Clay  and  his  friends,  that  the  measure  of  protection  secured  by  the 
compromise  act  up  to  the  3\st  December,  1841,  would  have  enabled 
our  manufactures  to  have  flourished  and  prospered. 

Another  leading  motive  with  Mr.  Clay,  in  proposing  the  com 
promise,  was  to  restore  harmony,  and  preserve  the  Union  from  dan 
ger  ;  to  arrest  a  civil  war,  which  beginning  with  South  Carolina, 
he  feared  might  spread  throughout  all  the  southern  states. 

It  may  be  added,  that  a  third  and  powerful  motive,  which  he 
felt  intensely,  although  he  did  not  always  avow  it,  was  an  invin 
cible  repugnance  to  placing  under  the  command  of  General  Jackson 
such  a  vast  military  power  as  might  be  necessary  to  enforce  the  laws 
and  put  down  any  resistance  to  them  in  South  Carolina,  and  which 
might  extend  he  knew  not  where.  He  could  not  think,  without  the 
most  serious  apprehensions,  of  intrusting  a  man  of  his  vehement 
passions  with  such  an  immense  power.  He  could  not  think 
without  feelings  of  indescribable  dread,  of  the  effusion  of  blood, 
the  danger  to  the  Union,  and  the  danger  to  the  liberties  of  all  of 
us,  which  might  arise  from  the  application  of  such  a  force  in  the 
hands  of  a  man  already  too  powerful,  and  flushed  with  recent 
victory. 

It  may  be  farther  added,  that  Mr.  Clay  thought  he  perceived, 
with  some,  a  desire  to  push  matters  to  extremity.  He  thought  he 
beheld  a  disposition  to  see  South  Carolina  and  the  south  pun 
ished.  Indeed,  the  sentiment  was  more  than  once  expressed  to 


144  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Aim:  "  Let  them  put  down  the  tariff — let  them  bring  ruin,  em 
barrassment,  and  distress,  on  the  country — the  country  will  rise 
with  renewed  vigor.  We  shall  have  the  policy,  which  we  wish 
to  prevail,  firmly  and  inviolably  fixed."  He  thought  even  that 
he  perceived  a  willingness  that  the  effect  produced  by  the  mem 
orable  Hartford  convention  at  the  north,  should  be  neutralized 
by  the  effect,  which  might  arise  out  of  putting  down  by  force  the 
nullification  of  South  Carolina.  He  could  not  sympathize  in 
these  feelings  and  sentiments.  He  was  for  peace,  for  harmony, 
for  union,  and  for  the  preservation  too  of  the  protective  system. 
He  no  more  believed  then  than  now,  that  government  was  insti 
tuted  to  make  great  and  perilous  experiments  upon  the  happiness 
of  a  free  people  —  still  less  experiments  of  blood  and  civil  war. 

After  the  introduction  of  the  bill  of  compromise  and  its  refer 
ence  to  the  committee,  predictions  of  the  failure  of  the  measure 
were  confidently  put  forth.  Even  in  the  committee-room  it  was  as 
serted,  that  there  was  no  chance  for  its  passage ;  and  members 
rose  from  their  places  with  the  intention  of  leaving  the  room, 
without  agreeing  upon  any  report.  Mr.  Clay  said  to  them,  with 
decision  and  firmness  :  "  Gentlemen,  this  bill  has  been  referred 
to  us,  and  it  is  our  duty  to  report  it,  in  some  form  or  other,  to  the 
senate  —  and  it  shall  be  reported."  Some  slight  amendments 
were  agreed  upon,  and  the  bill  was  reported.  Its  subsequent 
tate  is  known. 

In  bringing  about  the  adoption  of  the  measure,  Messrs.  Clayton 
and  Letcher  are  entitled  to  the  most  liberal  praise,  as  the  efficient 
coadjutors  of  its  author. 

The  private  history  of  the  compromise  act  remains  yet  to  be 
written.  Should  it  ever  be  given  to  the  world,  it  will  throw  new 
lustre  upon  the  patriotic  and  self-sacrificing  character  of  Mr. 
Clay.  It  will  exhibit,  in  a  still  stronger  light,  his  disinterested 
ness — his  devotion  to  country — his  elevation  above  all  selfish 
impulses  and  personal  ends — his  magnanimity,  and  his  generous 
intrepidity  of  spirit. 

The  compromise  bill  passed  the  house  February  26,  1833,  by 
a  vote  of  120  to  84.  It  passed  the  senate,  the  ensuing  1st  of 
March,  by  a  vote  of  29  to  16  — Mr.  Webster  voting  against  it. 
Mr.  Clay  was  now  once  more  hailed  as  the  preserver  of  the  re- 


HIS    PUBLIC    CAREER.  145 

public  —  as  the  great  pacificator.  The  dark,  portentous  cloud 
big  with  civil  discord  and  disunion,  which  had  been  hanging  over 
the  country,  rolled  away  and  was  scattered.  The  south  and  the 
north  were  reconciled  ;  and  confidence  and  prosperity  were  re 
stored.  Is  not  such  a  civic  triumph  worth  all  the  paeans  ever 
shouted  in  the  ears  of  a  military  conqueror  ?  It  placed  Mr.  Clay 
in  a  commanding  and  elevated  position — and  drew  upon  him  the 
eyes  of  the  whole  nation,  as  a  liberal,  sound,  and  true-hearted 
statesman,  in  whose  hands  the  interests  of  all  sections  would  be 
safe. 

The  act  was  characteristic  of  his  whole  public  career.  The 
only  horizon  which  bounds  his  political  vision  is  the  horizon  of 
his  country.  There  is  nothing  small,  narrow,  sectional,  in  his 
views,  interests,  or  hopes.  North,  south,  east,  and  west — they 
are  all  equally  dear  to  him.  Kentucky — .noble  Kentucky  — 
where  he  is  cherished  and  honored  as  such  a  statesman  and 
patriot  ought  to  be  cherished  and  honored  by  such  a  gallant  and 
generous  constituency — he  regards  with  the  attachment  and  de 
votion  with  which  no  generous  nature  can  fail  to  be  inspired  for 
the  soil  where  his  first  honors  were  won,  the  early  theatre  of 
his  fame  and  its  fruition — the  home  of  his  hopes  and  his 
heart.  Bat  he  looks  abroad  from  the  state  of  his  adoption,  and 
down  from  the  pinnacle  of  his  elevation — and  there  lie  Massa 
chusetts,  and  New  York,  and  the  Old  Dominion,  proud  of  the 
blended  honors  of  their  Lexington,  Saratoga,  and  Yorktown, 
radiant  with  the  common  glories  of  their  Adamses,  Hamiltons, 
and  Washingtons  —  and  he  feels  that  in  these  glories  and  honors 
—  in  those  traditions  and  records  of  achievements — in  the  fame 
of  those  illustrious  men,  he  has  himself  an  equal  inheritance  with 
any  of  their  children.  The  influence  of  this  noble,  national 
spirit,  pervades  the  whole  of  Mr.  Clay's  public  career,  and  is 
stamped  upon  all  those  great  measures  by  which,  in  moments  of 
exigency  and  darkness,  he  has  revived  the  desponding  hopes  and 
retrieved  the  sinking  fortunes  of  the  Union."  * 

*  The  following  passage  is  an  extract  from  a  speech  delivered  by  John  Tyler,  in  the  Vir 
ginia  house  of  delegates,  in  1839,  in  favor  of  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public 
lands,  as  recommended  by  the  Kentucky  statesman :  — 

"  In  my  deliberate  opinion,  there  was  but  one  man  who  could  have  arrested  the  then 
touree  of  things— the  tendency  of  nullification  to  dissolve  the  Union— and  that  man  was 

Cr  10 


146  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

In  the  autumn  of  1833,  Mr.  Clay,  accompanied  by  his  lady 
fulfilled  a  design  which  he  had  long  contemplated,  of  visiting  the 
eastern  cities.  His  journey  was  one  continued  ovation.  Arriving 
at  Baltimore,  early  in  October,  he  was  waited  upon  by  thousands 
of  citizens,  who  came  to  pay  their  tribute  of  gratitude  and  respect. 
At  Philadelphia,  he  was  received  at  the  Chestnut-street  wharf 
by  an  immense  concourse  of  people  with  enthusiastic  huzzas,  and 
conducted  to  the  United  States  hotel  by  his  friend,  John  Sergeant. 
Arriving  at  New  York,  he  was  escorted  to  his  lodgings  by  a  large 
procession  of  gentlemen  on  horseback ;  and  all  parties  seemed 
to  unite  in  their  testimonials  of  welcome.  A  special  meeting  of 
the  board  of  aldermen  was  held,  and  the  governor's  room,  in  the 
city-hall,  appropriated  to  his  use,  where  he  was  visited  by  a  con 
stant  succession  of  citizens.  At  Newport  and  Providence,  he 
was  greeted  with  every  possible  demonstration  of  welcome  and 
admiration  ;  and,  on  reaching  Boston,  he  was  met  and  conducted 
to  the  Tremont  house  by  a  very  numerous  cavalcade. 

At  all  these  cities,  and  many  others  on  his  route,  he  received 
pressing  invitations  to  public  dinners  ;  but,  being  accompanied  by 
his  family,  he  had,  on  leaving  Kentucky,  prescribed  to  himself 
the  rule,  to  which  he  rigidly  adhered,  of  declining  all  such  invi 
tations.  By  all  classes  in  New  England,  and  particularly  by  the 
manufacturing  population,  Mr.  Clay  was  received  as  a  friend  and 
benefactor.  The  cordiality  of  his  welcome,  showed  that  his 
motives  in  originating  the  compromise  act,  had  been  duly  appre 
ciated  by  those  most  deeply  interested  in  the  preservation  of  the 
American  system.  He  visited  many  of  the  manufacturing  towns, 
and,  on  all  occasions,  met  with  a  reception  which  indicated  how 
strongly  the  affections  of  the  people  were  enlisted  in  his  favor. 
At  Faneuil  hall,  and  on  Bunker  hill,  he  received  addresses  from 
committees,  to  which  he  replied  in  his  usual  felicitous  manner. 
While  at  Boston,  a  pair  of  elegant  silver  pitchers,  weighing  nine 

HENRY  CLAY.  It  rarely  happens,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  the  most  gifted,  and  talented,  and  patriotic, 
to  record  their  names  upon  the  page  of  history,  in  characters  indelible  and  enduring.  But, 
eir,  if  to  have  rescued  his  country  from  civil  war— if  to  have  preserved  the  constitution  and 
Union  from  hazard,  and  total  wreck,  constitute  any  ground  for  an  immortal  and  undying 
name  amon?  men,  then  I  do  believe  that  he  has  won  for  himself  that  high  renown.  I  speak 
what  I  do  know,  for  I  was  an  actor  in  the  scenes  of  that  perilous  period.  When  he  rose  in 
that  senate-chamber,  and  held  in  his  hand  the  olive-branch  of  peace,  I,  who  had  not  known 
what  envy  was  before,  envied  him.  I  was  proud  of  him  as  my  fellow-countryman,  and  stiK 
prouder  that  the  tlathu  of  Hanover,  within  the  limits  of  my  old  district  gave  him  birth." 


VISIT    TO    THE    EASTERN    CITIES.  147 

and  a  half  pounds,  were  presented  to  him  by  the  young  men.  A 
great  crowd  was  present ;  and  Mr.  Clay,  though  taken  by  surprise, 
spoke  for  about  half  an  hour,  in  a  manner  to  enchant  his  hearers. 
The  following  apposite  toast  was  offered  by  one  of  the  young 
men  on  the  occasion  :  "  Our  Guest  and  Gift — our  Friend  and 
Pitcher !" 

While  at  Salem,  Mr.  Clay  attended  a  lecture  at  the  Lyceum, 
when  the  audience,  numbering  about  twelve  hundred  persons, 
spontaneously  rose,  and  loudly  greeted  him  on  his  entrance.  On 
the  4th  of  November,  he  left  Boston  with  his  family  on  his  return 
journey.  He  took  the  route  through  Massachusetts  to  Albany, 
passing  through  Worcester,  Hartford,  Springfield,  Northampton, 
Pittsfield,  &c.,  and  being  everywhere  hailed  by  a  grateful  people 
with  every  demonstration  of  heartfelt  attachment  and  reverence. 

At  Troy  and  Albany,  the  manifestations  of  popular  attachment 
were  not  less  marked  than  in  Massachusetts.  In  both  places  the 
people  rose  up,  as  one  man,  to  do  him  honor ;  and  at  both  places 
he  made  replies  to  the  addresses  presented  to  him,  which  are 
excellent  specimens  of  his  familiar  style  of  eloquence.  The 
multitudes  of  citizens  who  met,  followed,  and  waited  upon  him 
at  every  point,  in  rapid  succession,  indicated  how  large  a  space 
he  occupied  in  the  public  heart.  As  he  said  in  one  of  the  numer 
ous  speeches  which  he  was  called  upon  to  make,  during  his  tour, 
"  he  had  been  taken  into  custody,  made  captive  of,  but  placed 
withal  in  such  delightful  bondage,  that  he  could  find  no  strength 
and  no  desire  to  break  away  from  it." 

The  popular  enthusiasm  did  not  seem  to  have  abated  as  he  re 
turned  through  those  cities  which  he  had  but  recently  visited. 
On  his  way  to  Washington,  he  was  met  at  New  York,  Newark, 
Trenton,  Philadelphia,  Wilmington,  and  Baltimore,  by  delegations 
of  citizens,  whose  attentions  rendered  his  progress  one  of 
triumphal  interest.  He  reached  the  seat  of  government  in  season 
to  be  present  at  the  opening  of  Congress. 


148  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

XII. 

THE  PUBLIC  LANDS REJECTION  OF  MR.  VAN  BUREN. 

MR.  CLAY'S  course  in  regard  to  the  public  lands,  presents  a 
striking  illustration  of  his  patriotic  disinterestedness,  and  self- 
sacrificing  devotion  to  the  cause  of  justice.  The  characteristic 
traits  which  he  displayed  upon  this  question,  remind  us  of  an 
anecdote  of  him,  related,  a  few  years  since,  by  that  eminent 
statesman  and  high-minded  whig,  William  C.  Preston,  in  a  speech 
at  Philadelphia.  "  On  one  occasion,"  said  Mr.  P.,  "  he  did  me 
the  honor  to  send  for  and  consult  with  me.  It  was  in  reference 
to  a  step*  he  was  about  to  take,  and  which  will,  perhaps,  come 
to  your  minds  without  more  direct  allusions.  After  stating  what 
he  proposed,  I  suggested  whether  there  would  not  be  danger  in 
it — whether  such  a  course  would  not  injure  his  own  prospects, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  whig  party  in  general  ?  His  reply  was  — 
*  I  did  not  send  for  you  to  ask  what  might  be  the  effects  of  the 
proposed  movement  on  my  prospects,  but  whether  it  is  right.  I 

WOULD    RATHER     BE    RIGHT    THAN    BE    PRESIDENT.'" 

On  March  22, 1832,  Mr.  Bibb,  of  Kentucky  moved  an  inquiry 
into  the  expediency  of  reducing  the  price  of  the  public  lands.  Mr. 
Robinson  of  Illinois,  moved  a  further  inquiry  into  the  expediency 
of  transferring  the  public  territory  to  the  states  within  which  it  lies, 
upon  reasonable  terms.  With  the  view  of  embarrassing  Mr.  Clay, 
these  topics  were  inappropriately  referred,  by  the  administration 
party,  to  the  committee  on  manufactures,  of  which  he  was  a  mem 
ber.  It  was  supposed  by  his  enemies,  that  he  would  make  a  "  bid 
for  the  presidency,"  by  favoring  the  interested  states  at  the  expense 
of  justice  and  sound  policy.  But  he  did  not  stop  to  calculate  the 
consequences  to  himself.  He  did  not  attempt  to  evade  or  defer 
the  question.  He  met  it  promptly.  He  expressed  his  opinions 
firmly  and  boldly  :  and  those  opinions,  thus  expressed,  wise, 
equitable,  conclusive,  were  immediately  seized  upon  for  the  pur 
pose  of  breaking  him  down  in  the  new  states.  The  design  had 
been  to  embarrass  him,  by  holding  out  the  alternative  of  baffling 

*  His  speech  on  slavery  and  the  reception  of  abolition  petitions. 


THE    LAND    BILL.  149 

the  cupidity  of  a  portion  of  the  people  of  the  west,  or  shocking 
the  sense  of  justice  and  invading  the  rights  of  the  old  states  — 
to  injuriously  affect  his  popularity  either  with  the  old  or  new 
states,  or  with  both.  But  when  was  Henry  Clay  known  to  shrink 
from  the  responsibility  of  an  avowal  of  opinion  upon  a  question 
of  public  moment  ?  In  about  three  weeks  after  the  matter  was 
referred  to  the  committee,  he  presented  to  Congress  a  most 
luminous,  able,  and  conclusive  report,  and  in  the  bill  appended  to 
it,  arranged  the  details  of  a  wise  and  equitable  plan,  which  no 
subsequent  legislation  was  able  to  improve. 

Mr.  Clay  regarded  the  national  domain  in  the  light  of  a  "  com 
mon  fund,"  to  be  managed  and  disposed  of  for  the  "  common 
benefit  of  all  the  states."  This  property,  he  thought,  should  be 
prudently  and  providently  administered  ;  that  it  should  not  be 
wantonly  sacrificed  at  inadequate  prices,  and  that  it  should  not  be 
unjustly  abandoned,  in  violation  of  the  trust  under  which  it  was 
held,  to  a  favored  section  of  the  country.  These  principles  were 
the  basis  of  his  bill,  which  provided — 

I.  That  after  the  thirty-first  day  of  December,  1832,  twelve  and  a  half 
per  cent,  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  sold  within  their  limits, 
should  be  paid  to  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Alabama,  Missouri,  and  Mississippi, 
over  and  above  what  these  states  were  severally  entitled  to  by  the  compacts 
of  their  admission  into  the  Union ;  to  be  applied  to  internal  improvements 
and  purposes  of  education  within  those  states,  under  the  direction  of  their 
legislatures — independently  of  the  provisions  for  the  construction  and  main 
tenance  of  the  Cumberland  road. 

II.  After  this  deduction,  the  net  proceeds  were  to  be  distributed  among 
the  (then)  twenty-four  states,  according  to  their  respective  federal  represent 
ative  population ;  to  be  applied  to  such  objects  of  internal  improvement, 
education,  or  colonization,  as  might  be  designated  by  their  respective  legis 
latures,  or  the  reimbursement  of  any  previous  debt  contracted  for  internal 
improvements. 

III.  The  act  to  continue  in  force  for  five  years,  except  in  the  event  of  a 
war  with  any  foreign  power ;  and  additional  provisions  to  be  made  for  any 
new  state  that  might  be  meanwhile  admitted  to  the  Union. 

IV.  The  minimum  price  of  the  public  lands  not  to  be  increased ;  and  not 
less  than  $80,000  per  annum  to  be  applied  to  complete  the  public  surveys. 

V.  Land  offices  to  be  discontinued  in  districts  where,  for  two  successive 
years,  the  proceeds  of  sales  should  be  insufficient  to  pay  the  salaries  of  the 
officers  employed. 

VI.  That  certain  designated  quantities  of  land  should  be  granted  to  six 
of  the  new  states,  not  to  be  sold  at  a  less  price  than  the  minimum  price  of 
lands  sold  by  the  United  States,  to  be  applied  to  internal  improvements. 

Such  were  the  simple  and  just  provisions  of  the  land  bill  of 
Mr.  Clay.  To  the  new  states  they  were  abundantly  libeial, 


150  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

without  violating  the  erms  of  the  original  cession  by  the  old 
states  ;  for  the  money  laid  out  in  the  new  states  for  internal  im 
provements,  subject  to  the  use  of  the  United  States,  may  be 
justly  regarded  as  for  the  "  common  benefit"  of  the  Union. 

The  introduction  of  the  report  and  bill,  created  no  little  surprise 
and  excitement  Li  the  senate.  It  was  hardly  expected  of  a  can 
didate  for  the  presidency,  that  he  should  have  so  promptly  and 
peremptorily  rejected  the  opportunity,  thus  temptingly  presented, 
of  bidding  for  the  votes  of  the  new  states,  by  holding  out  the 
prospect,  at  least,  of  aggrandizement.  But  on  this  subject,  as  on 
all  others,  Mr.  Clay  tock  the  broad  national  ground.  He  looked 
at  the  question  as  a  statesman,  not  as  a  politician.  He  suffered 
no  individual  inducements  to  influence  his  opinions  or  his  policy. 
His  paramount  sense  of  duty ;  his  habitual  sense  of  the  sacred- 
ness  of  compacts  ;  his  superiority  to  local,  sectional,  and  personal 
considerations,  were  never  more  conspicuously  and  more  honor 
ably  manifested  than  on  this  occasion. 

The  land  bill  was  made  the  special  order  for  the  20th  of  June, 
when  it  was  taken  up  by  Mr.  Clay,  and  advocated  with  his  usual 
eloquence  and  ability.  Mr.  Benton  replied.  His  policy  was  to 
reduce  the  price  of  a  portion  of  the  public  lands,  and  to  surrender 
the  residue  to  the  states  in  which  they  lie.  It  would  have  given 
to  the  state  of  Missouri  25,000,000  of  acres,  or  about  160  acres 
to  every  individual  in  the  state,  black  and  white  ;  while  the  state 
of  New  York,  by  whose  blood  and  treasure,  in  part,  this  great 
domain  was  acquired,  would  have  been  cut  off  without  an  acre  ! 
Various  motions  were  made  in  the  senate  for  the  postponement 
and  amendment  of  Mr.  Clay's  bill.  The  policy  of  reducing  the 
price,  was  urged  with  great  pertinacity  by  the  friends.,  of  the  ad 
ministration  ;  but  the  objections  of  the  report  to  this  policy,  were 
justly  regarded  as  unanswerable  and  insurmountable  ;  and,  on  the 
3d  of  July,  the  bill,  essentially  in  the  same  form  as  reported 
received  its  final  passage  in  the  senate,  by  a  vote  of  20  yeas  to 
18  nays.  The  late  period  of  the  session  at  which  it  was  sent  to 
the  house,  and  the  conflict  of  opinion  in  that  body,  in  respect  to 
some  of  its  provisions,  enabled  the  administration  to  effect  its 
postponement  to  the  first  Monday  of  the  following  December,  by 
a  vote  of  91  yeas  to  88  nays. 


VETO  Or  THE  LAND  BILL.  51 

This,  of  course,  was  equivalent  to  its  rejection.  But  such 
were  the  wisdom  and  obvious  equity  of  its  provisions,  and  so 
highly  did  it  commend  itself  to  the  good  sense  of  the  people,  that 
the  administration  party  were  compelled  to  yield  to  the  uncon 
trollable  force  of  public  opinion.  At  the  next  session,  therefore, 
of  Congress,  the  bill  was  again  taken  up,  and  passed  the  senate 
by  a  vote  of  24  to  20,  and  the  popular  branch  by  a  vote  of  96  to 
40.  It  was  sent  to  the  president  for  his  approval. 

Notwithstanding  the  unprecedented  favor  which  it  had  found 
among  the  immediate  representatives  of  the  people,  it  was 
"  trampled,"  as  Mr.  Benton  subsequently  boasted,  under  the  "  big 
foot  of  President  Jackson."  The  dissolution  of  Congress,  be 
fore  the  expiration  of  the  constitutional  term  for  which  he  was 
authorized  to  retain  the  bill,  enabled  that  self-willed  and  despotic 
chief  magistrate  to  defeat  the  obvious  will  of  the  people.  If  it 
had  been  returned  to  Congress  at  the  session  of  its  passage,  it 
would  have  become  a  law  by  a  two-third  vote.  It  was  therefore 
withheld,  and,  at  the  next  session,  on  the  5th  of  December,  1833, 
was  sent  back  with  the  veto  of  the  president ;  and  the  veto,  as 
we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  sprang  from  the  personal  hos 
tility  of  General  Jackson  toward  the  author  of  the  land  bill,  and 
an  apprehension  that  it  would  augment  the  popularity  of  a  rival, 
whom  he  feared  and  hated. 

The  principles  of  the  veto  message  accorded  with  those  which 
had  been  already  promulgated  by  Mr.  Benton.  General  Jackson 
declared  himself  in  favor  of  reducing  the  price  of  a  portion  of  the 
public  lands,  and  of  surrendering  the  residue  to  the  states  in 
which  they  lie  ;  and  withdrawing  the  machinery  of  our  land  sys 
tem.  He  objected  to  Mr.  Clay's  plan  of  giving  an  extra  12^  per 
cent,  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  within  their  own  limits  to  the 
new  states,  as  an  "  indirect  and  undisguised  violation  of  the 
pledge  given  by  Congress  to  the  states  before  a  single  cession 
was  made  ;  abrogating  the  condition  on  which  some  of  the  states 
came  into  the  Union ;  and  setting  at  naught  the  terms  of  cession 
spread  upon  the  face  of  every  grant  under  which  the  title  of  that 
portion  of  the  public  lands  are  held  by  the  federal  government." 
Such  were  the  shocking  violations  of  principle  and  compact,  in 
volved  in  the  limited  and  equitable  grant  to  the  new  states,  con- 


152  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAk 

templated  by  the  bill  of  Mr.  Clay  ;  and  yet  we  were  gravely  told 
by  General  Jackson,  in  the  same  breath,  that  to  sell  the  lands  for 
a  nominal  price — to  withdraw  the  land  machinery  of  the  gov 
ernment  altogether — to  abandon  the  lands — to  surrender  the 
lands — to  give  them  to  the  states  in  which  they  lie  — "  impaired 
no  principle  and  violated  no  compact."  It  was  a  gross  violation 
of  compact  —  it  was  a  flagrant  outrage  upon  principle,  to  surren 
der  a  part — but  the  outrage  was  repaired,  and  the  compact  kept 
inviolate  by  an  abandonment  of  the  whole  !  Such  was  the  rea 
soning  of  the  veto  message  ! 

General  Jackson  had  been  obliged  to  change  his  grounds  on 
this  question,  in  order  to  thwart  the  views  of  Mr.  Clay.  In  his 
annual  message  of  December  4,  1832,  he  had  recommended  a 
measure  fundamentally  similar.  But  the  measure  now  presented 
to  him,  though  it  had  passed  Congress  by  triumphant  majorities, 
had  been  suggested,  although  not  voluntarily,  by  an  individual 
who  shared  no  part  in  his  counsels  or  his  affections — by  one, 
whom  he  had  ungenerously  injured,  and  whom  he  therefore  dis 
liked.  He  preferred  the  gratification  of  his  malevolence  to  the 
preservation  of  his  consistency.  The  consequence  was  his  arbi 
trary  retention  of  the  bill,  by  an  irregular  and  unprecedented  pro 
ceeding,  and  his  subsequent  veto. 

The  right  of  the  old  states  to  the  public  domain  is  the  right 
of  conquest  and  of  compact.  Those  lands  were  won  by  the 
blood  and  treasure  of  the  thirteen  provinces.  Their  title-deeds 
were  signed,  sealed,  and  delivered  on  the  plains  of  Yorktown. 
When  the  clouds  of  the  revolution  had  rolled  away,  and  the  dis 
cordant  elements  of  the  confederation  were  taking  the  shape  and 
system  of  our  present  glorious  constitution — the  sages  and  sol 
diers  of  liberty  assembled  for  the  establishment  of  a  more  perfect 
union.  To  realize  this  grand  end  of  their  labors,  they  recom 
mended  to  the  thirteen  states  to  make  a  common  cession  of  their 
territories  to  the  federal  government ;  that  they  might  be  admin 
istered  for  their  common  benefit,  and  stand  as  a  pledge  for  the 
redemption  of  the  public  debt.  Patriotic  Virginia,  following  the 
wise  counsels  of  her  Washington,  Henrys,  and  Jeffersons,  sur 
rendered  without  a  murmur  her  bloodless  domain  —  now  the  seat 
of  numerous  new  states,  and  still  stretching  hundreds  of  leagues 


MR.  VAN  BUREN  NOMINATED  AS  MINISTER  TO  ENGLAND.      153 

into  the  unsurveyed  and  uninhabited  wilderness.  Her  sistei 
states,  though  they  had  less  to  surrender,  surrendered  all  they 
possessed ;  and  in  return  for  this  liberal  and  patriotic  abandon 
ment  of  local  advantages  for  the  common  good,  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  pledged  itself  by  the  most  solemn  compact  to 
administer  this  vast  domain  for  the  common  benefit  of  its  original 
proprietors,  and  of  such  new  states  as  should  thereafter  be  ad 
mitted  into  the  Union. 

The  second  of  May,  ]  834,  Mr.  Clay  made  a  report  from  the 
committee  on  public  lands,  in  relation  to  the  president's  return 
of  the  land  bill.  In  this  paper  he  exposes  with  great  ability  the 
inconclusiveness  of  the  president's  reasons.  For  some  ten  years 
Mr.  Clay  was  the  vigilant,  laborious,  and  finally  successful  op 
ponent  of  the  monstrous  project  of  the  administration  for  squan 
dering  the  public  domain  and  robbing  the  old  states.  To  his  un- 
remitted  exertions  we  shall  have  been  indebted  for  the  succes 
sive  defeats  of  the  advocates  of  the  plunder  system,  and  for  the 
final  adjustment  of  the  question  according  to  his  own  equitable 
propositions.  By  this  adjustment,  all  sections  of  the  country  are 
treated  with  rigid  impartiality.  The  interest  of  no  one  state  is 
sacrificed  to  that  of  the  others.  The  west,  the  north,  the  south, 
and  east,  all  fare  alike.  A  more  wise  and  provident  system 
could  not  have  been  devised.  It  will  stand  as  a  perpetual  mon 
ument  of  the  enlarged  patriotism,  unerring  sagacity,  and  uncom 
promising  justice  of  its  author. 

The  question  of  confirming  Mr.  Van  Buren's  nomination  as 
minister  to  England,  came  before  the  senate  during  the  session 
of  1831-'32.  The  conduct  of  that  gentleman  while  secretary  of 
state,  in  his  instructions  to  Mr.  M'Lane,  had  excited  general 
displeasure.  Not  content  with  exerting  his  ingenuity  to  put  his 
own  country  in  the  wrong  and  the  British  government  in  the 
right,  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  endeavored  to  attach  to  Mr.  Adams's 
administration  the  discredit  of  bringing  forward  unfounded  "  pre 
tensions,"  and  by  himself  disclaiming  those  pretensions,  to  pro 
pitiate  the  favor  of  the  British  king.  Upon  the  subject  of  the 
colonial  trade,  he  said :  "  To  set  up  the  acts  of  the  late  adminis 
tration,  as  the  cause  of  a  forfeiture  of  privileges  which  would  other 
wise  be  extended  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  would,  under 

or* 


J54  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

existing  circumstances,  be  unjust  in  itself,  and  could  not  fail  to 
excite  their  deepest  SENSIBILITY." 

The  parasitical,  anti-American  spirit  displayed  throughout 
these  celebrated  instructions  constituted  a  sufficient  ground  for 
the  rejection  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  nomination.  Mr.  Clay's  per 
sonal  relation  toward  that  gentleman  had  always  been  of  a  friendly 
character,  but  he  did  not  allow  them  to  influence  his  sense  of 
public  justice.  He  addressed  the  senate  emphatically  against 
the  nomination,  declaring  that  his  main  objection  arose  out  of 
the  instructions ;  the  offensive  passages  in  which  he  quoted. 

"On  our  side,"  said  he,  "according  to  Mr.  Van  Buren,  all  was  wrong;  on 
the  British  side,  all  was  right.  We  brought  forward  nothing  but  claims  and 
pretensions  ;  the  British  government  asserted  on  the  other  hand  a  clear  and 
incontestable  right.  We  erred  in  too  tenaciously  and  too  long  insisting  upon 
our  pretensions,  and  not  yielding  at  once  to  their  just  demands.  And  Mr. 
M'Lane  was  commanded  to  avail  himself  of  all  the  circumstances  in  his 
power  to  mitigate  our  offence,  and  to  dissuade  the  British  government  from 
allowing  their  feelings  justly  incurred  by  the  past  conduct  of  the  party  driv 
en  from  power  to  have  an  adverse  influence  toward  the  American  party 
now  in  power.  Sir,  was  this  becoming  language  from  one  independent  na 
tion  to  another?  Was  it  proper  in  the  mouth  of  an  American  minister? 
Was  it  in  conformity  with  the  high,  unsullied,  and  dignified  character  of 
our  previous  diplomacy?  Was  it  not,  on  the  contrary,  the  language  of  an 
humble  vassal  to  a  proud  and  haughty  lord?  Was  it  not  prostrating  and 
degrading  the  American  eagle  before  the  British  lion  ?" 

The  nomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  rejected  in  the  senate 
by  the  casting  vote  of  the  vice-president,  Mr.  Calhoun.  It  has 
been  said  that  this  act  was  a  blunder  in  policy  on  the  part  of  the 
opposition  in  the  senate  —  that  it  made  apolitical  martyr  of  a  wily 
and  intriguing  antagonist,  and  commended  him  to  the  sympathy 
and  vindicatory  favor  of  his  party.  All  this  may  be  true  ;  but  it 
does  not  affect  the  principle  of  the  measure.  Mr.  Clay  did  not 
lack  the  sagacity  to  foresee  its  probable  consequences ;  but, 
where  the  honor  of  his  country  was  concerned,  expediency  was 
with,  him  always  an  inferior  consideration. 


THE    CURRENCY    QUESTION.  155 

XIII. 
THE    BANK    STRUGGLE. 

I*  on.  -welve  years,  the  country  was  kept  in  a  fever  of  perpetual 
o^citement,  or  in  a  state  of  alternate  paralysis  and  convulsion, 
by  tne  agitation  of  the  currency  question.  General  Jackson 
found  us  in  1829  in  a  condition  of  general  prosperity.  The  gov 
ernment  was  administered  with  republican  economy.  The  legis 
lature,  the  judiciary,  and  the  executive,  every  one  wielding  its 
constitutional  powers,  moved  on  harmoniously  in  their  respective 
spheres  ;  and  the  result  was  a  system  that  secured  the  happi 
ness  of  the  people  and  challenged  the  admiration  of  the  civilized 
world.  Commerce,  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  the  mechanic 
arts,  flourished ;  lending  mutual  aid,  and  enjoying  a  common 
prosperity,  fostered  by  the  government,  and  diffusing  blessings 
among  the  community.  The  banking  system  was  sound  through 
out  the  states.  Our  currency  was  uniform  in  value,  and  the 
local  banks  were  compelled  to  restrict  their  issues  to  their  ability 
of  redemption  in  specie.  There  was  no  wild  speculation.  In 
dustrious  enterprise  was  the  only  source  of  fortune.  Labor  was 
amply  employed,  abundantly  compensated,  and  safe  in  the  enjoy 
ment  of  its  wages.  The  habits  of  the  people  were  simple  and 
democratic.  Our  foreign  credit  was  without  a  stain,  and  the 
whole  machinery  of  government,  trade,  and  currency,  had  been 
brought  to  a  state  approaching  the  utmost  limit  to  be  attained  by 
human  ingenuity  and  human  wisdom. 

In  1830,  General  Jackson  commenced  his  *'  humble  efforts" 
for  improving  our  condition.  He  advised,  in  his  message  of 
that  year,  the  establishment  of  a  treasury-bank,  with  the  view, 
among  other  things,  of  "  strengthening  the  states,"  by  leaving  in 
their  hands  "  the  means  of  furnishing  the  local  paper  currency 
through  their  own  banks."  This  was  his  original  plan,  and  in 
this  message  we  hear  nothing  of  a  better  currency,  or  the  substi 
tution  of  the  precious  metals  for  bank  paper.  In  the  following 
year  he  again  brought  the  subject  before  Congress,  and  left  it  to 
the  "  investigation  of  an  enlightened  people  and  their  represen- 


156  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

tatives."  TLe  investigation  took  place  ;  and  Congress  passed  a 
bill  for  the  recharter  of  the  United  States  Bank.  This  bill  was 
peremptorily  vetoed  by  General  Jackson,  who  condemned  it  as 
premature,  and  modestly  remarked  in  regard  to  a  bank,  "  Had 
the  executive  been  called  upon  to  furnish  the  project  of  such  an 
institution  as  would  be  constitutional,  the  duty  would  have  been 
cheerfully  performed." 

Mr.  Clay  was  one  of  the  foremost  in  denouncing  the  extra 
ordinary  doctrines  of  this  veto  message.  On  the  12th  of  July, 
1832,  he  addressed  the  senate  upon  the  subject.  We  have 
already  given  an  exposition  of  his  views  upon  the  question  of  a 
bank.  They  are  too  well-known  to  the  country  to  require  reit 
eration  in  this  place.  They  have  been  frankly  avowed  on  ah 
fitting  occasions.  Touching  the  veto  power,  that  monarchical 
feature  in  our  constitution,  his  opinions  were  such  as  might  have 
been  expected  from  the  leader  of  the  democratic  party  of  1815. 
He  considered  it  irreconcilable  with  the  genius  of  a  representa 
tive  government;  and  cited  the  constitution  of  Kentucky,  by 
which,  if  after  the  rejection  of  a  bill  by  the  governor,  it  shall  be 
passed  by  a  majority  of  all  the  members  elected  to  both  houses, 
it  becomes  a  law  notwithstanding  the  governor's  objection. 

The  abuses  to  which  this  power  has  been  subjected  under  the 
administrations  of  Jackson  and  Tyler,  call  loudly  for  an  amend 
ment  of  the  federal  constitution.  The  veto  of  a  single  magistrate 
on  a  bill  passed  by  a  numerous  body  of  popular  representatives, 
immediately  expressing  the  opinion  of  all  classes  of  the  commu 
nity,  and  all  sections  of  the  country,  indicates  obviously  an 
enormous  prerogative.  It  must  so  strike  every  one  who  has  ever 
reasoned  on  government.  When  the  people  of  Paris  called  upon 
Mirabeau  to  save  them  from  the  grant  of  such  a  power,  telling 
him  that,  if  granted,  all  was  lost,  they  spoke  a  sentiment  that  is 
as  universal  as  the  sense  and  spirit  of  liberty.  When  we  reflect 
that  no  king  of  England  has  dared  to  exercise  this  power  since 
the  year  1692,  we  can  not  but  feel  that  there  must  have  been 
good  reason  in  the  jealousy  of  the  people,  and  in  the  apprehen 
sion  of  the  crown.  Mr.  Burke,  in  his  celebrated  letter  to  the 
sheriff  Of  Bristol,  observes,  in  reference  to  the  exercise  of  this 
power  by  the  king,  that  it  is  "  wisely  forborne.  Its  Depose  may 


REMOVAL    OF    THE    DEPOSITES.  13* 

be  the  preservation  of  its  existence,  and  its  existence  may  be  the 
means  of  saving  the  constitution  itself,  on  an  occasion  worthy  of 
bringing  it  forth"  So  high  a  power  was  it  considered  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,  that  he  was  at  one  time  decidedly  in  favor  of  associating 
the  judiciary  with  the  executive  in  its  exercise. 

It  is  in  this  light  that  the  veto  power  should  be  considered  — 
as  a  most  serious  and  sacred  one,  to  be  exercised  only  on  emer 
gencies  worthy  to  call  it  forth.  On  all  questions  of  mere  opinion, 
mere  expediency,  the  representatives  of  the  people  are  the  best, 
as  they  are  the  legitimate  judges. 

The  monstrous  doctrine  had  been  advanced  by  General  Jack 
son,  in  his  veto  message,  that  every  public  officer  may  interpret 
the  constitution  as  he  pleases.  On  this  point  Mr.  Clay  said,  with 
great  cogency  :  — 

"  I  conceive,  with  great  deference,  that  the  president  has  mistaken  the  pur 
port  of  the  oath  to  support  the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  No  one 
swears  to  support  it  as  he  understands  it,  but  to  support  it  simply  as  it  is  in 
truth.  All  men  are  bound  to  obey  the  laws,  of  which  the  constitution  is  the 
supreme  ;  but  must  they  obey  them  as  they  are,  or  as  they  understand  them  ? 
If  the  obligation  of  obedience  is  limited  and  controlled  by  the  measure  of 
information ;  in  other  words,  if  the  party  is  bound  to  obey  the  constitution 
only  as  he  understands  it,  what  would  be  the  consequence  ?  There  would 
be  general  disorder  and  confusion  throughout  every  branch  of  administra 
tion,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  officers — universal  nullification." 

During  the  session  of  1832-'33,  General  Jackson  declared  that 
the  public  deposites  were  not  safe  in  the  vaults  of  the  United  States 
bank,  and  called  upon  Congress  to  look  into  the  subject,  and  to 
augment  what  he  then  considered  the  "  limited  powers"  of  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury  over  the  public  money.  Congress  made 
die  desired  investigation,  and  the  house  of  representatives,  by  a 
vote  of  109  to  46,  declared  the  deposites  to  be  perfectly  safe. 
Resolved  on  gratifying  his  feelings  of  personal  animosity  toward 
the  friends  of  the  bank,  General  Jackson  did  not  allow  this  ex 
plicit  declaration  on  the  part  of  the  immediate  agents  of  the 
people,  to  shake  his  despotic  purpose.  During  the  autumn  of 
1833,  he  resolved  upon  that  most  arbitrary  of  arbitrary  measures, 
the  removal  of  the  deposites.  The  cabinet  council,  to  whom  he 
originally  proposed  this  measure,  are  said  to  have  disapproved  of 
it  in  the  most  decided  terms.  Mr.  McLane,  the  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  refused  to  lend  it  his  assistance.  He  was  accordingly 


158  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

translated  to  the  office  of  secretary  of  state,  made  vacant  by  the 
appointment  of  Mr.  Livingston  to  the  French  mission ;  and 
William  J.  Duane,  of  Philadelphia,  took  his  place  at  the  head  of 
the  treasury  department.  Mr.  Duane,  however,  did  not  turn  out 
to  be  the  pliable  tool  which  the  president  had  expected  to  find 
him.  On  the  20th  of  September,  1833,  it  was  authoritatively 
announced  to  the  public  that  the  deposites  would  be  removed.  The 
next  day,  Mr.  Duane  made  known  to  the  president  his  resolution, 
neither  voluntarily  to  withdraw  from  his  post,  nor  to  be  made  the 
instrument  of  illegally  removing  the  public  treasures.  The  con 
sequence  was,  the  rude  dismission  of  the  independent  secretary 
from  office,  on  the  23d  of  September.  Mr.  Taney,  who  had  sus 
tained  the  views  of  the  president,  was  made  his  successor ;  and 
the  people's  money  was  removed  from  the  depository  where  the 
law  had  placed  it,  and  scattered  among  irresponsible  state  insti 
tutions  under  the  control  of  greedy  partisans. 

The  congressional  session  of  1833-'34,  was  one  of  extraordi 
nary  interest,  in  consequence  of  the  discussion  of  this  high-handed 
measure. 

In  his  message  to  Congress,  the  president  said  :  "  Since  the 
adjournment  of  Congress,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  has 
directed  the  money  of  the  United  States  to  be  deposited  in  certain 
state  banks  designated  by  him ;  and  he  will  immediately  lay 
before  you  his  reasons  for  this  direction.  I  concur  with  him  en 
tirely  in  the  view  he  has  taken  of  the  subject ;  and,  some  months 
before  the  removal,  I  urged  upon  the  department  the  propriety  of 
taking  the  step."  The  "  reasons'5  adduced  by  Mr.  Taney  for 
lending  his  aid  to  the  seizure  of  tho  public  money,  were  such  as 
might  have  been  expected  from  an  adroit  lawyer.  However 
satisfactory  they  might  have  been  to  General  Jackson  and  his 
party,  they  were  utterly  insufficient  to  justify  the  act  in  the  eyes 
of  dispassionate  and  clear-minded  men.  Mr.  Taney  undertook 
to  sustain  his  position  by  a  precedent  which  he  assumed  to  find 
in  a  letter  addressed  by  Mr.  Crawford,  when  secretary  of  the 
treasury,  to  the  president  of  the  Mechanics'  bank  of  New  York. 
On  the  19th  of  December,  Mr.  Clay  introduced  resolutions  into 
the  senate,  calling  upon  Mr.  Taney  for  a  copy  of  the  letter  an 
extract  from  w  hich  he  had  cited  in  his  report. 


HIS    CONNECTION    WITH    THE    BANK.  159 

In  his  remarks  upon  the  occasion  of  presenting  these  resolu 
tions,  Mr.  Clay  made  some  observations  in  regard  to  his  own 
personal  relations  toward  the  bank.  An  individual  high  in  office, 
had  allowed  himself  to  assert  that  a  dishonorable  connection  had 
subsisted  between  him  (Mr.  C.)  and  that  institution.  Mr.  Clay 
said  that  when  the  charter,  then  existing,  was  granted,  he  voted 
for  it ;  and,  having  done  so,  he  did  not  feel  himself  at  liberty  to 
subscribe,  and  he  did  not  subscribe,  for  a  single  share  in  the  stock 
of  the  bank,  although  he  confidently  anticipated  a  great  rke  in 
its  value.  A  few  years  afterward,  during  the  presidency  of  Mr. 
Jones,  it  was  thought  by  some  of  his  friends  at  Philadelphia,  ex 
pedient  to  make  him  (Mr.  C.)  a  director  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  ;  and  he  was  made  a  director,  without  any  consultation 
with  him.  For  that  purpose,  five  shares  were  purchased  for  him 
by  a  friend,  for  which  he  (Mr.  C.)  afterward  paid.  When  he 
ceased  to  be  a  director,  a  short  time  subsequently,  he  disposed  of 
those  shares  ;  since  which  time  he  has  never  been  proprietoi 
of  a  single  share. 

When  Mr.  Cheves  was  appointed  president  of  the  bank,  its 
affairs,  in  the  states  of  Kentucky  and  Ohio,  were  in  great  dis 
order  ;  and  Mr.  Clay's  professional  services  were  engaged  during 
several  years  for  the  bank  in  those  states.  He  brought  a  vast 
number  of  suits,  and  transacted  a  great  amount  of  professional 
business  for  the  bank.  Among  other  suits,  v/as  one  for  the  re 
covery  of  $100,000,  seized  under  the  authority  of  a  law  in  Ohio 
which  he  carried  through  the  inferior  and  supreme  courts.  He 
was  paid  by  the  bank  the  usual  compensation  for  these  services 
and  no  more.  No  professional  fees  were  ever  more  honestly  and 
fairly  earned.  For  upward  of  eight  years  past,  however,  he  had 
not  been  the  counsel  for  the  bank.  He  did  not  owe  the  bank,  or 
any  of  its  branches,  a  solitary  cent.  Some  twelve  or  fifteen  years 
before,  owing  to  the  failure  of  a  friend,  a  large  amount  of  debt 
had  been  thrown  upon  Mr.  Clay,  as  his  endorser  ;  and  it  was 
principally  due  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Clay  com 
menced  a  system  of  rigid  economy — established  for  himself  a 
sinking  fund — worked  hard,  and  paid  off  the  debt  without  re 
ceiving  from  the  bank  the  slightest  favor. 

The  resolutions,  of  Mr.  Clay,  calling  upon  the  secretary  of  tlxo 


160  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

treasury  for  a  copy  of  the  letter  said  to  have  been  written  by  Mr 
Crawford,  passed  the  senate  ;  and  on  the  13th  of  December,  a 
communication  was  received  from  Mr.  Taney,  the  character  of 
which  was  evasive  and  unsatisfactory.  The  senate  had  asked 
for  documents,  and  he  gave  them  arguments.  In  reference  to 
Mr.  Crawford's  opinions,  Mr.  Clay  said,  that  although  there  was 
plausibility  in  the  construction  which  the  secretary  had  given  to 
them,  yet  he  (Mr.  Clay)  would  undertake  to  show  that  the 
opinions  ascribed  to  Mr.  Crawford  in  reference  to  the  bank 
charter,  were  never  asserted  by  him. 

On  the  26th  of  December,  1833,  Mr.  Clay  laid  the  following 
resolutions  before  the  senate  :  — 

"  1.  Resolved,  That,  by  dismissing  the  late  secretary  of  the  treasury,  be 
cause  he  would  not,  contrary  to  his  sense  of  his  own  duty,  remove  the  money 
of  the  United  States  in  deposite  with  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and 
brandies,  in  conformity  with  the  president's  opinion,  and  by  appointing  his 
successor  to  effect  such  removal,  which  has  been  done,  the  president  haa 
assumed  the  exercise  of  a  power  over  the  treasury  of  the  United  States,  not 
granted  by  the  constitution  and  laws,  and  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the 
people. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
for  the  removal  of  the  money  of  the  United  States  from  the  United  States 
bank  and  its  brandies,  communicated  to  Congress  on  the  third  day  of  De 
cember,  1833,  are  unsatisfactory  and  insufficient." 

Mr.  Clay's  speech  in  support  of  the  resolutions,  was  delivered 
partly  on  the  26th,  and  partly  on  the  30th  of  December  ;  and  it 
is  one  of  the  most  masterly  efforts  of  eloquence  ever  heard  within 
the  walls  of  the  capitol.  In  force  and  amplitude  of  argument, 
variety  and  appropriateness  of  illustration,  and  energy  of  diction, 
it  is  equalled  by  few  oratorical  productions  in  the  English  lan 
guage.  During  its  delivery,  the  lower  house  was  almost  deserted  ; 
and  the  galleries  of  the  senate-chamber  were  filled  by  a  mutely 
attentive  audience,  whose  enthusiasm  occasionally  broke  forth  in 
unparliamentary  bursts  of  applause  —  a  demonstration,  which  is 
rarely  elicited  except  when  the  feelings  are  aroused  to  an  extra 
ordinary  degree. 

In  his  exordium,  Mr.  Clay  briefly  glanced  at  some  of  the 
principal  usurpations  and  abuses  of  the  administration. 

"We  are,"  said  he,  "in  the  midst  of  a  revolution,  hitherto  bloodless,  but 
rapidly  tending  toward  a  total  change  of  the  pure  republican  character  of 
the  government,  and  to  the  concentration  of  all  power  in  the  hands  of  on« 


THE    VETO    POWER.  161 

man.  The  powers  of  Congress  are  paralyzed,  except  wnen  exerted  in  con* 
formity  with  his  will,  by  a  frequent  and  extraordinary  exercise  of  the  exe 
cutive  veto,  not  anticipated  by  the  founders  of  the  constitution,  and  not 
practised  by  any  of  the  predecessors  of  the  present  chief  magistrate.  And, 
to  cramp  them  still  more,  a  new  expedient  is  springing  into  use,  of  with 
holding  altogether  bills  which  have  received  the  sanction  of  both  houses  of 
Congress,  thereby  cutting  off  all  opportunity  of  passing  them,  even  if,  after 
their  return,  the  members  should  be  unanimous  in  their  favor.  The  consti 
tutional  participation  of  the  senate  in  the  appointing  power,  is  virtually 
abolished  by  the  constant  use  of  the  power  of  removal  from  office,  without 
any  known  cause,  and  by  the  appointment  of  the  same  individual  to  the 
same  office,  after  his  rejection  by  the  senate.  How  often  have  we,  senators, 
felt  tli  it  the  check  of  the  senate,  instead  of  being,  as  the  constitution  in- 
tendo'."!,  a  salutary  control,  was  an  idle  ceremony  ?  * 

"The  judiciary  has  not  been  exempted  from  the  prevailing  rage  for  inno 
vation.  Decisions  of  the  tribunals  deliberately  pronounced,  have  been  con 
temptuously  disregarded,  and  the  sanctity  of  numerous  treaties  openly 
violated.  Our  Indian  relations,  coeval  with  the  existence  of  the  government, 
and  recognised  and  established  by  numerous  laws  and  treaties,  have  been 
subverted  ;  the  rights  of  the  helpless  and  unfortunate  aborigines  trampled  in 
the  dust,  and  they  brought  under  subjection  to  unknown  laws,  in  which  they 
have  no  voice,  promulgated  in  an  unknown  language.  The  most  extensive 
and  most  valuable  public  domain  that  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  one  nation,  is 
threatened  with  a  total  sacrifice.  The  general  currency  of  the  country— 
the  life-blood  of  all  its  business — is  in  the  most  imminent  danger  of  universal 
disorder  and  confusion.  The  power  of  internal  improvement  lies  crushed 
beneath  the  veto.  The  system  of  protection  to  American  industry  was 
snatched  from  impending  destruction  at  the  last  session ;  but  we  are  now 
coolly  told  by  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  without  a  blush,  '  that  it  is  un 
derstood  to  be  conceded  on  all  hands,  that  a  tariff  for  protection  merely  is  to 
be  finally  abandoned.'  By  the  3d  of  March,  1837,  if  the  progress  of  inno 
vation  continue,  there  will  be  scarcely  a  vestige  remaining  of  the  government 
and  its  policy,  as  it  existed  prior  to  the  3d  of  March,  1829." 

In  the  paper  read  to  his  cabinet  on  the  18th  of  September, 
1833,  and  afterward  published  in  the  newspapers,  but  which  he 
refused  to  communicate  to  the  senate,  when  called  upon  by  them 
so  to  do,  President  Jackson  is  made  to  employ  terms  of  blandish 
ment  toward  his  new  secretary  of  the  treasury,  as  if  to  gild  the 
shackles  of  dictation  imposed  by  executive  power  in  regard  to 
the  removal  of  the  deposites.  He  says,  he  trusts  that  the  secre 
tary  will  see  in  his  remarks,  "  only  the  frank  and  respectful  dec 
larations  of  the  opinions  which  the  president  has  formed  on  a 
measure  of  great  national  interest,  deeply  affecting  the  character 
and  usefulness  of  his  administration,  and  not  a  spirit  of  dictation, 
which  the  president  would  be  as  careful  to  avoid,  as  ready  to 
resist." 

Mr.  Clay  very  happily  illustrates  the  hypocrisy  of  this  defei 

11 


62  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY 

ential  language.  "  Sir,  it  reminds  me  of  an  historical  anecdote 
related  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  characters  which  our  spe 
cies  has  ever  produced.  When  Oliver  Cromwell  was  contend 
ing  for  the  mastery  of  Great  Britain  or  Ireland  (I  do  not  now 
remember  which),  he  besieged  a  certain  catholic  town.  The 
place  made  a  stout  resistance  ;  but  at  length  the  town  being 
likely  to  be  taken,  the  poor  catholics  proposed  terms  of  capitu 
lation,  stipulating  therein  for  the  toleration  of  their  religion.  The 
paper  containing  the  terms  was  brought  to  Oliver,  who,  putting 
on  his  spectacles  to  read  it,  cried  out :  '  Oh,  granted,  granted ! 
certainly  !'  He,  however,  added — '  but  if  one  of  them  shall  dare 
be  found  attending  mass,  he  shall  be  hanged!' — (under  which 
section  is  not  mentioned — whether  under  a  second,  or  any  othet 
section  of  any  particular  law,  we  are  not  told.") 

After  proving,  what  is  now  notorious  to  the  whole  country, 
that  the  removal  of  the  deposites  was  the  act  of  General  Jackson 
and  of  him  alone,  and  that  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  was 
merely  the  caCs-paw  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  seizure,  Mr. 
Clay  proceeded  to  show  that  it  was  in  violation  of  the  constitu 
tion  and  laws  of  the  United  States.  His  argument  on  this  point 
is  faithful  and  conclusive. 

We  regret  that  our  limited  space  prevents  us  from  quoting 
freely  from  this  interesting  speech.  It  contains  a  succinct  his 
tory  of  all  the  financial  exploits  of  General  Jackson  and  his  sub 
servient  secretary  up  to  the  period  of  its  delivery ;  and  is  as 
valuable  for  its  documentary  facts  as  it  is  interesting  for  the  vigor 
and  animation  of  its  style  and  the  impregnability  of  its  arguments. 

The  resolution  declaring  the  insufficiency  of  the  reasons  as 
signed  by  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  for  the  removal  of  the 
deposites,  having  been  referred  to  the  committee  on  finance,  at 
the  head  of  which  was  Mr.  Webster,  was  reported  with  a  rec 
ommendation  that  it  be  adopted.  The  question  upon  the  reso 
lution  was  not  taken  till  the  28th  of  March,  when  it  was  passed 
by  the  senate,  28  to  18.  At  the  instance  of  some  of  his  friends, 
Mr.  Clay  then  modified  his  other  resolution,  so  as  to  read  as 
follows :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  president  in  the  late  executive  proceedings  in  rela 
tion  to  the  public  revenue,  has  assumed  upon  himself  authority  and  power 
not  conferred  by  the  constitution  and  laws,  but  in  derogation  of  both." 


GENERAL    JACKSON'S    PROTEST.  163 

The  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  following  vote  :  — 

YEAS. — Messrs.  Bibb,  Black,  Calhoun,  Clay,  Clayton,  Ewing,  Frelinghuy- 
een,  Kent,  Knight,  Leigh,  Mangum,  Naudain,  Poindexter,  Porter,  Prentiss, 
Preston,  Bobbins,  Silsbee,  Smith,  Southard,  Sprague,  Swift>  Tomlinson,  Ty 
ler,  Waggaman,  Webster — 26. 

NAYS. — Messrs.  Benton,  Brown,  Forsyth,  Grundy,  Hendricks,  Hill,  Kane, 
King  of  Alabama,  King  of  Georgia,  Linn,  M'Kean,  Moore,  Morris,  Robin 
son,  Shepley,  Tallmadge,  Tipton,  White,  Wilkins,  Wright — 20. 

The  passage  of  Mr.  Clay's  resolution  drew  forth  from  the 
president  the  celebrated  protest,  which  was  communicated  to  the 
senate,  the  17th  of  April,  1833.  This  document  was  of  a  most 
novel  and  unprecedented  character,  and  gave  rise  to  debates, 
which  will  always  be  memorable  in  our  legislative  annals.  The 
assumptions  of  the  president  were  truly  of  a  kind  to  excite  alarm 
among  the  friends  of  our  republican  system.  In  this  extraordi 
nary  paper  he  maintains,  that  he  is  responsible  for  the  acts  of 
every  executive  officer,  and  that  all  the  powers  given  by  law  are 
vested  in  him  as  the  head  and  fountain  of  all.  He  alludes  to  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury  as  his  secretary,  and  says  that  Congress 
can  not  take  from  the  executive  the  control  of  the  public  money. 
His  doctrine  is,  that  the  president  should,  under  his  oath  of  office, 
sustain  the  constitution  as  he  understands  it ;  not  as  the  judiciary 
may  expound,  or  Congress  declare  it.  From  these  principles, 
he  infers  that  all  subordinate  officers  are  merely  the  executors 
of  his  supreme  will,  and  that  he  has  the  right  to  discharge  them 
whenever  he  may  please. 

These  monstrous  and  despotic  assumptions,  transcending  as 
they  do  the  prerogatives  claimed  by  most  of  the  monarchs  of 
Europe,  afforded  a  theme  for  eloquent  discussion,  which  was  not 
neglected  by  the  opposition,  who  then  constituted  the  majority 
in  the  senate.  Mr.  Poindexter,  of  Mississippi,  protested  against 
the  reception  of  such  a  paper  from  the  president ;  and  moved 
that  i\  be  not  received.  Mr.  Sprague,  of  Maine,  exposed  its  fal 
lacies,  and  denounced  its  doctrines  in  spirited  and  indignant 
terms.  The  senators  from  New  Jersey,  Messrs.  Frelinghuysen 
and  Southard,  expressed  their  astonishment  and  indignation  in 
strong  and  decided  language.  Mr.  Benton,  "  solitary  and  alone," 
stood  forth  as  the  champion  of  the  president  and  the  protest. 

The  next  day  (April  18th)  the  consideration  of  Mr.  Polndex- 


164  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

ter's  motion  was  resumed  ;  and  Mr.  Leigh,  of  Virginia,  addressed 
the  senate  for  about  two  hours  in  a  speech  of  rare  ability.  To 
ward  its  conclusion  an  unusual  incident  occurred.  Mr.  King, 
of  Alabama,  had  ciaimed  for  the  president  the  merit  of  adjusting 
the  tariff  question.  He  might,  with  quite  as  much  truth,  have 
claimed  for  him  the  merit  of  writing  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence.  Mr.  Leigh,  in  reply  to  this  assumption,  spoke  as  fol 
lows  : — 

"Sir,  I  can  not  but  remember  that,  during  the  anxious  winter  of  1832-'33, 
when  South  Carolina,  under  a  deep  sense  of  injustice  and  oppression  (whether 
well  or  ill-founded,  it  is  immaterial  now  to  inquire),  was  exerting  her  utmost 
efforts  (no  matter  now  whether  wisely  or  not)  to  bring  about  a  relaxation 
of  the  system — when  all  men  were  trembling  under  the  apprehension  of 
civil  war — trembling  from  the  conviction,  that  if  such  a  contest  should  arise, 
let  it  terminate  how  it  might,  it  would  put  our  present  institutions  in  jeopardy, 
and  end  either  in  consolidation  or  disunion— for,  I  am  persuaded  that  the  first 
drop  of  blood  which  shall  be  shed  in  a  civil  strife  between  the  federal  govern 
ment  and  any  state,  will  fiow  from  an  immedicable  wound,  that  none  may  hope 
ever  to  see  healed — I  can  not  but  remember  that  the  president,  though  wield 
ing  such  vast  power  and  influence,  never  contributed  the  least  aid  to  bring 
about  the  compromise  that  saved  us  from  the  evils  which  all  men,  I  believe, 
and  I  certainly,  so  much  dreaded.  The  men  are  not  present  to  whom  we 
are  chiefly  indebted  for  that  compromise  ;  and  I  am  glad  they  are  absent, 
since  it  enables  me  to  speak  of  their  conduct  as  I  feel,  without  restraint 
from  a  sense  of  delicacy — I  raise  my  humble  voice  in  gratitude  for  that 
service  to  Henry  Clay  of  the  senate,  and  Ilobert  P.  Letcher  of  the  house 
of  representatives " 

Here  Mr.  Leigh  was  interrupted  by  loud  and  prolonged  plau 
dits  in  the  gallery.  The  vice-president  suspended  the  discus 
sion,  and  ordered  the  galleries  to  be  cleared.  While  the  ser- 
geant-at-arms  was  in  the  act  of  fulfilling  this  order,  the  applause 
was  repeated.  Mr.  Benton  moved  that  the  persons  applauding 
should  be  taken  into  custody ;  but,  before  the  motion  could  be 
considered,  the  galleries  were  vacated  and  order  was  restored. 

On  the  2 1st  of  April,  another  message  was  received  from  the 
president,  being  a  sort  of  codicil  to  the  protest,  in  which  he  un 
dertook  to  explain  certain  passages,  which  he  feared  had  been 
misapprehended.  Mr.  Poindexter  withdrew  his  original  motion, 
and  substituted  four  resolutions  in  which  it  wa&  embodied. 
These  resolutions  were  modified  by  Mr.  Clay,  and  an  amend 
ment  suggested  by  Mr.  Calhoun  was  adopted.  Messrs.  Clayton, 
Webster,  Preston,  Ewing,  Mangum,  and  others,  addressed  the 
senate  eloquently  on  various  occasions  upon  the  subject  of  tho 


THE  PROTEST  EXCLUDED  FROM  THE  JOURNALS.     165 

protest ;  and,  on  the  30th  of  April,  Mr.  Clay,  the  resolution  of 
Mr.  Poindexter  still  pending,  made  his  well-known  speech. 
Although  the  subject  seemed  to  have  been  exhausted  by  the  ac 
complished  speakers  who  had  preceded  him,  it  was  at  once  re 
invested  with  the  charms  of  novelty  in  his  hands.  The  speech 
contains  the  most  complete  and  faithful  picture  of  Jacksonism 
ever  presented  to  the  country. 

The  resolutions  of  Mr.  Poindexter  passed  the  senate  by  a 
vote  of  27  to  16  on  the  7th  of  May.  They  exclude  the  protest 
from  the  journals,  and  declare  that  the  president  of  the  United 
States  has  no  right  to  send  a  protest  to  the  senate  against  any 
of  its  proceedings. 

On  the  28th  of  May,  1834,  Mr.  Clay  introduced  two  joint 
resolutions,  reasserting  what  had  been  already  declared  by  reso 
lutions  of  the  senate,  that  the  reasons  assigned  by  the  secretary 
of  the  treasury  to  Congress,  for  the  removal  of  the  public  depos- 
ites,  were  insufficient  and  unsatisfactory ;  and  providing  that,  from 
and  after  the  first  day  of  July  ensuing,  all  deposites  which  might 
accrue  from  the  public  revenue,  subsequent  to  that  period,  should 
be  placed  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  and  its  branches,  pur 
suant  to  the  16th  section  of  the  act'to  incorporate  the  subscribers 
to  the  United  States  bank. 

In  presenting  these  resolutions,  Mr.  Clay  remarked  that,  what 
ever  might  be  their  fate  at  the  other  end  of  the  capitol,  or  in  an 
other  building,  that  consideration  ought  to  have  no  influence  on 
the  course  of  the  senate.  The  resolutions  were  adopted  and 
sent  to  the  house,  where  they  were  laid  upon  the  table,  and,  as 
was  anticipated,  never  acted  upon. 

The  labors  of  Mr.  Clay  during  the  celebrated  session  of  1833 
—'34,  appear  to  have  been  arduous  and  incessant.  On  every  im 
portant  question  that  came  before  the  senate,  he  spoke,  showing 
himself  the  ever-vigilant  and  active  opponent  of  executive  usur 
pation.  Immediately  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  public  money 
from  the  United  States  bank,  and  before  the  "pet  banks,"  to 
which  the  treasure  had  been  transferred,  had  created  an  un 
healthy  plethora  in  the  currency  by  their  consequent  expansions, 
the  distress  among  the  people  began  to  manifest  itself  in  numer 
ous  memorials  to  Congress,  protesting  against  the  president** 


166  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

financial  experiments,  and  calling  for  relief.  Many  of  the?, 
memorials  were  communicated  to  the  senate  through  Mr.  Clay, 
and  he  generally  accompanied  their  presentation  with  a  brief  but 
pertinent  speech.  His  remarks,  on  presenting  a  memorial  from 
Kentucky,  on  the  26th  of  February,  1834  —  and  from  Troy,  the 
fourteenth  of  April  —  are  eloquent  expositions  of  the  financial 
condition  of  the  country  at  those  periods.  In  his  speech  of  the 
5th  of  February,  on  a  motion  to  print  additional  copies  of  the 
report  of  the  committee  on  finance,  to  which  had  been  referred 
the  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  in  regard  to  the  re 
moval  of  the  deposites,  we  find  the  following  just  and  forcible 
image  :  — 

"The  idea  of  uniting  thirty  or  forty  local  banks  for  the  establishment  and 
security  of  an  equal  currency  could  never  be  realized.  As  well  might  the 
crew  of  a  national  vessel  be  put  on  board  thirty  or  forty  bark  canoes,  tied 
together  by  a  grape-vine,  and  sent  out  upon  the  troubled  ocean,  while  the 
billows  were  rising  mountain-high,  and  the  tempest  was  exhausting  its  rage 
on  the  foaming  element,  in  the  hope  that  they  might  weather  the  storm, 
and  reach  their  distant  destination  in  safety.  The  people  would  be  con 
tented  with  no  such  fleet  of  bark  canoes,  with  Admiral  Taney  in  their  com 
mand.  They  would  be  heard  again  calling  out  for  old  Ironsides,  which  had 
never  failed  them  in  the  hour  of  trial,  whether  amidst  the  ocean's  storm,  or 
in  the  hour  of  battle." 

This  session,  generally  known  as  the  "  panic  session,"  was 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  that  have  ever  occurred  in  the  prog 
ress  of  our  government.  Never  was  there  collected  in  the  sen 
ate  a  greater  amount  of  eminent  ability.  For  weeks  together  the 
whigs  poured  forth  a  torrent  of  eloquent  denunciations,  in  every 
form,  against  that  high-handed  measure,  the  removal  of  the  de 
posites.  This  was  most  generally  done  on  the  occasion  of  pre 
senting  petitions  or  memorials  from  the  people  against  it.  Go 
into  the  senate-chamber  any  morning  during  this  interesting 
period,  and  you  would  find  some  whig  on  his  feet,  expatiating 
on  the  pernicious  consequences  of  that  most  disastrous  proceed 
ing.  It  was  then  that  they  predicted  the  evil  effects  of  it,  since 
so  fatally  and  exactly  realized. 

Mr.  Clay  was  among  the  most  active  and  eloquent  of  these 
distinguished  champions  of  the  people.  No  one  exhibited  so 
great  a  variety  of  weapons  of  attack  upon  the  administration^  or 
so  consummate  a  skill  in  the  use  of  them.  Early  in  March 


APPEAL    TO    THE    VICE-PRESIDENT.  167 

1834,  a  committee  from  Philadelphia  arrived  in  Washington  with 
a  memorial  from  a  large  body  of  mechanics,  depicting  the  state 
of  prostration  and  distress  produced  among  all  the  laboring 
classes,  by  the  high-handed  and  pernicious  measures  of  the  admin 
istration.  In  presenting  this  memorial,  Mr.  Clay  took  occasion 
o  deviate  somewhat  from  the  beaten  track  of  debate.  He  made 
a  direct  appeal  to  the  vice-president,  Mr.  Van  Buren,  charging 
him  with  the  delivery  of  a  message  to  the  executive.  After 
glancing  at  the  gloomy  condition  of  the  country,  he  remarked 
that  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  chief  magistrate  to  adopt  a  meas 
ure  which,  in  twenty-four  hours,  would  afford  an  efficacious  and 
substantial  remedy,  and  reestablish  confidence  ;  and  those  who, 
in  that  chamber,  supported  the  administration,  could  not  render 
a  better  service  than  to  repair  to  the  executive  mansion,  and, 
placing  before  the  chief  magistrate  the  naked  and  undisguised 
truth,  prevail  upon  him  to  retrace  his  steps  and  abandon  his  fatal 
experiment. 

"No  one,  sir,"  continued  Mr.  Clay,  tu/ning  to  the  vice-president,  "can 
perform  that  duty  with  more  propriety  than  yourself.  You  can,  if  you 
will,  induce  him  to  change  his  course.  To  you,  then,  sir,  in  no  unfriendly 
"spirit,  but  with  feelings  softened  and  subdued  by  the  deep  distress  which 
pervades  every  class  of  our  countrymen,  I  make  the  appeal.  By  your  offi 
cial  and  personal  relations  with  the  president,  you  maintain  with  him  an 
intercourse  which  I  neither  enjoy  nor  covet.  Go  to  him  and  tell  him  with 
out  exaggeration,  but  in  the  language  of  truth  and  sincerity,  the  actual  con 
dition  of  his  bleeding  country.  Tell  him  it  is  nearly  ruined  and  undone  by 
the  measures  which  he  has  been  induced  to 
his  experiment  is  operating  on  the  nation  111 
upon  a  convulsed  animal  in  an  exhausted  receiver; 
in  agony  if  he  does  not  pause,  give  it  fresh  and  sound  circulation,  and  suffer 
the  energies  of  the  people  to  be  revived  and  restored.  Tell  him  that  in  a 
single  city,  more  than  sixty  bankruptcies,  involving  a  loss  of  more  than 
fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  have  occurred.  Depict  to  him,  if  you  can  find 
language  for  the  task,  the  heart-rending  wretchedness  of  thousands  of  the 
working  classes.  Tell  him  him  how  much  more  true  glory  is  to  be  won  by 
retracing  false  steps  than  by  blindly  rushing  on  until  the  country  is  over 
whelmed  in  bankruptcy  and  ruin.  Entreat  him  to  pause." 

In  this  strain,  Mr.  Clay  proceeded  for  nearly  twenty  minutes. 
Nothing  could  be  more  eloquent,  touching,  and  unanswerable, 
than  the  appeal,  although,  of  course,  it  failed  of  effect.  "  Well, 
Mr.  Van  Buren,  did  you  deliver  the  message  I  charged  you 
with  ?"  asked  Mr.  Clay,  as  he  met  the  vice-president  in  the  sen 
ate-chamber  the  next  morning  before  the  day's  session  had  com 
menced. 


168  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

The  reply  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  is  not  recorded.  That  gentle 
man,  however,  was  never  celebrated  for  his  powers  of  repartee 
During  the  period  of  his  vice-presidency,  Mr.  Clay  dined  with 
him  on  one  occasion  in  company  with  the  judges  of  the  United 
States  court,  the  heads  of  departments,  and  others.  Conversa 
tion  at  dinner  glanced  at  the  fact,  that  tory  ministers,  both  in 
England  and  in  France,  were  more  disposed  than  whig  minis 
ters  to  do  justice  to  the  United  States,  and  deal  liberally  with 
them  in  all  international  negotiations.  All  the  parties  present 
agreed  as  to  the  fact ;  and  turning  suddenly  to  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
Mr.  Clay  said :  "  If  you  will  permit  me,  I  will  propose  a  toast." 
"  With  great  pleasure,"  returned  the  vice-president.  "  1  propose," 
said  Mr.  Clay,  "  Tory  ministers  in  England  and  France,  and  a 
whig  ministry  in  the  United  Stales."  The  toast  was  drunk  with 
great  cordiality  by  the  company,  Mr.  Van  Buren  affecting  to 
laugh,  but  blushing  at  the  same  time  up  to  the  eyes,  and  evi 
dently  nonplused  for  a  retort. 

The  message  addressed  by  Mr.  Clay  to  the  vice-president  re 
calls  to  mind  another,  which  he  requested  the  late  Mr.  Grundy 
to  deliver  to  President  Jackson.  It  was  the  last  of  February  * 
1833,  when  the  land  bill  was  pending.  "  Tell  General  Jackson," 
said  Mr.  Clay,  "  that  if  he  will  sign  that  bill,  I  will  pledge  my 
self  to  retire  from  Congress,  and  never  enter  public  life  again." 
Mr.  Grundy,  who  was  an  amiable  and  remarkably  good-natured 
person,  said  :  "  No,  I  can't  deliver  that  message  ;  for  we  may 
have  use  for  you  hereafter."  This  was,  it  will  be  remembered, 
at  the  session  when  the  compromise  passed. 

The  first  session  of  the  twenty-third  Congress  terminated  the 
30th  of  June,  1834,  and  Mr.  Clay,  after  his  prolonged  and  labor 
ious  exertions  in  behalf  of  the  constitution  and  the  laws,  set  out 
immediately  on  his  journey  home.  As  the  stage-coach,  in  which 
he  was  proceeding  from  Charlestown  toward  Winchester,  in 
Virginia,  was  descending  a  hill,  it  was  overturned,  and  a  worthy 
young  gentleman,  Mr.  Humrickhouse,  son  of  the  contractor,  was 
instantly  killed  by  being  crushed  by  the  vehicle.  He  was  seated 
by  the  side  of  the  driver.  Mr.  Clay  was  slightly  injured.  The 
accident  happened  in  consequence  of  a  defect  in  the  breast- 
chain,  which  gave  way.  On  his  arrival  at  Winchester,  Mr.  Clay 


OUR  CLAIMS  ON  FRANCE  169 

was  invited  to  a  public  dinner,  which  he  declined,  as  well  on 
account  of  his  desire  to  reach  home,  as  because  of  this  melan 
choly  accident,  which  disqualified  him  for  immediate  enjoyment 
at  the  festive  board. 


XIV. 

DIFFICULTY    WITH    FRANCE INDIAN    WRONGS. 

THE  most  important  question  which  came  before  Congress  at 
its  second  session,  in  1834— '35,  was  that  of  our  relations  with 
France.  The  claims  of  our  citizens  upon  that  government  for 
aggressions  upon  our  commerce  between  the  years  1800  and 
1817,  had  been  repeatedly  admitted  ;  but  no  decided  steps  toward 
a  settlement  had  been  taken  until  the  4th  of  July,  1831,  when  a 
treaty  was  ratified,  by  which  it  was  agreed,  on  the  part  of  the 
French,  that  the  sum  of  twenty-five  millions  of  francs  should  be 
paid  to  the  United  States  as  an  indemnity.  By  the  terms  of  the 
treaty,  the  first  instalment  was  to  be  paid  at  the  expiration  of  one 
year  after  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications. 

The  French  government  having  failed  in  the  performance  of 
this  stipulation  —  the  draft  of  the  United  States  for  the  first  in 
stalment  having  been  dishonored  by  the  minister  of  finance  — 
President  Jackson,  in  his  message  of  December,  1834,  to  Con 
gress,  recommended  that,  in  case  provision  should  not  be  made 
for  the  payment  of  the  debt  at  the  approaching  session  of  the 
French  chambers,  a  law  should  be  passed  authorizing  reprisals 
upon  French  property.  This  was  a  step  not  to  be  precipitately 
taken ;  and,  to  insure  its  patriotic,  dispassionate,  and  stateman- 
like  consideration,  the  senate  placed  Mr.  Clay  at  the  head  of  the 
committee  on  foreign  relations,  to  which  committee  that  part  of 
the  president's  message  relating  to  our  affairs  with  France  was 
referred. 

On  the  6th  of  January,  1835,  Mr.  Clay  made  his  celebrated 
report  to  the  senate.     It  was  read  by  him  from  his  seat,  its  read 
ing  occupying  an  hour  and  a  half;  the  senate-chamber  being 
H 


170  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

thronged  during  its  delivery  by  members  of  the  house,  and  the 
galleries  filled  to  overflowing.  The  ability  displayed  in  this  ex 
traordinary  document,  the  firmness  and  moderation  of  its  tone, 
the  perspicuous  arrangements  of  facts  which  it  presents,  the 
lucidity  and  strength  of  its  style,  and  the  inevitable  weight  of 
its  conclusions,  called  forth  the  admiration  and  concurrence  of 
all  parties.  It  would  seem  to  have  been,  under  Providence,  the 
means  of  averting  a  war  with  France.  In  the  preparation  of  it, 
Mr.  Clay  had  a  difficult  and  delicate  task  to  perform  ;  and  it  was 
accomplished  with  great  ingenuity  and  success.  Not  a  word  that 
could  lower  the  national  tone  and  spirit  was  indulged  in.  He 
eloquently  maintained  that  the  right  lay  on  our  side,  but  admitted 
that  the  French  king  had  not  been  so  far  in  the  wrong  that  all 
hopes  of  the  execution  of  the  treaty  were  extinct,  nor  did  he 
consider  that  hostile  measures  were  yet  justifiable.  This  tem 
perate,  judicious,  firm,  and  statesman-like  language,  while  it  re 
moved  all  cause  of  offence  on  the  part  of  the  French,  imparted 
new  renown  to  our  own  diplomacy.  While  it  was  all  that  the 
most  chivalrous  champions  of  their  country's  honor  could  ask,  it 
breathed  a  spirit  which  called  forth  the  full  approbation  of  the 
friends  of  peace. 

As  soon  as  Mr.  Clay  had  finished  the  reading  of  his  report,  a 
discussion  arose  in  the  senate  as  to  the  number  which  should  be 
printed.  Mr.  Poindexter  moved  the  printing  of  twenty  thousand 
extra  copies.  Mr.  Clay  thought  that  number  too  large,  and  sug 
gested  five  thousand,  Mr.  Calhoun  said  he  should  vote  for  the 
largest  number  proposed.  He  had  heard  the  report  read  with 
the  greatest  pleasure.  It  contained  the  whole  grounds  which 
ought  to  be  laid  before  the  people.  Of  all  the  calamities  that 
could  befall  the  country,  he  most  deplored  a  French  war  at  that 
time.  Under  these  considerations  he  should  vote  for  twenty 
thousand  copies. 

Mr.  Ewing  and  Mr.  Porter  would  vote  for  the  largest  number, 
and  the  latter  would  have  preferred  thirty  or  forty  thousand. 

Mr.  Preston  said  he  was  strongly  impressed  by  the  views 
taken  by  the  committee,  and  considered  them  sufficient  to  satisfy 
the  people  that  we  could  honorably  and  justly  avoid  war  with 
France.  Concurring  in  the  sentiments  of  the  committee,  and 


THE    FRENCH    INDEMNITY    QUESTION.  171 

entertaining  a  profound  respect  for  the  wisdom  exhibited  in  the 
report,  he  was  anxious  that  the  document  should  be  spread  through 
the  country  as  widely  as  possible. 

The  senate  finally  ordered  twenty  thousand  copies  of  this  ad 
mirable  report  to  be  printed,  and  it  was  soon  scattered  to  the  re 
motest  corners  of  the  Union.  Its  effect  in  reviving  the  confi 
dence  and  allaying  the  fears  of  our  mercantile  community  must 
be  fresh  in  the  remembrance  of  many.  The  rates  of  insurance 
were  at  once  diminished,  Commerce  spread  her  white  wings 
to  the  gale,  and  swept  the  ocean  once  more  unchecked  by  the 
liabilities  of  a  hostile  encounter.  The  depression  in  business 
produced  by  the  president's  belligerent  recommendation  was  at 
once  removed. 

The  report  showed  conclusively  that  the  president's  recom 
mendation  in  regard  to  reprisals  was  premature,  and  unauthorized 
by  the  circumstances  of  the  case  ;  and  that  there  had  been  a  con 
stant  manifestation  on  the  part  of  the  executive  branch  of  the 
French  government  of  a  disposition  to  carry  the  treaty  of  indem 
nification  into  effect.  The  committee  expressed  their  agreement 
with  the  president,  that  the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty  should  be  in 
sisted  upon  at  all  hazards  ;  but  they  considered  that  a  rash  and 
precipitate  course  on  our  part  should  be  seduously  avoided. 
They  would  not  anticipate  the  possibility  of  a  final  breach  by 
France  of  her  solemn  engagements.  They  limited  themselves 
to  a  consideration  of  the  posture  of  things  as  they  then  existed. 
At  the  same  time,  they  observed  that  it  could  not  be  doubted  that 
the  United  States  were  abundantly  able  to  sustain  themselves  in 
any  vicissitudes  to  which  they  might  be  exposed.  The  patriot 
ism  of  the  people  had  been,  hitherto,  equal  to  all  emergencies, 
and  if  their  courage  and  constancy,  when  they  were  young  and 
comparatively  weak,  bore  them  safely  through  all  past  struggles, 
the  hope  might  be  confidently  entertained  now,  when  their  num 
bers,  their  strength,  and  their  resources,  were  greatly  increased, 
that  they  would,  whenever  the  occasion  might  arise,  triumphantly 
maintain  the  honor,  the  rights,  and  the  interests  of  their  country. 
The  committee  concluded  by  recommending  to  the  senate  the 
adoption  of  the  following  resolution  : — 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  inexpedient  at  this  time  to  pass  any  law  vesting  in  the 


172  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

president  authority-  for  making  reprisals  upon  French  property,  in  the  con 
tingency  of  provision  not  being  made  for  paying  to  the  United  States  the  in 
demnity  stipulated  by  the  treaty  of  1831,  during  the  present  sessions  of  the 
French  chambers." 

On  the  14th  of  January,  Mr.  Clay,  pursuant  to  previous  notice 
called  for  the  consideration  of  the  report  of  the  committee  on  for 
eign  relations,  and  its  accompanying  resolution.  It  being  ex 
pected  that  he  would  address  the  senate,  a  large  audience  was  in 
attendance,  and,  as  soon  as  he  was  up,  the  other  house  was  with 
out  a  quorum.  The  question  being  upon  agreeing  to  the  resolution 
as  reported,  he  spoke  for  nearly  an  hour,  and  his  remarks  were 
in  the  same  moderate,  magnanimous  and  truly  American  strain, 
which  characterized  his  report. 

Mr.  King,  of  Georgia,  one  of  the  administration  members  of 
the  committee  on  foreign  relations,  after  bearing  the  strongest 
testimony  to  the  candid  and  temperate  character  of  Mr.  Clay's 
report,  moved  to  give  the  resolution  such  a  modification  as,  with 
out  changing  its  substance,  would  obtain  for  it  a  unanimous  vote. 
Mr.  Clay  accepted  in  part  Mr.  King's  amendment,  and  also  one 
that  was  offered  by  Mr.  Webster  ;  and  the  following  resolution 
was  at  length  UNANIMOUSLY  PASSED  by  the  senate. 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  inexpedient  at  present  to  adopt  any  legislative  meas 
ure  in  regard  to  the  state  of  affairs  between  the  United  States  and  France." 

The  unanimous  passage  of  this  resolution,  was  a  result  as 
gratifying  as  it  was  unexpected  ;  and  its  effect  upon  the  French 
chambers,  in  neutralizing  the  harsh  language  of  the  president 
and  hastening  the  execution  of  the  treaty,  was  most  auspicious. 
The  praises  of  Congress  and  of  the  country,  were  liberany 
awarded  to  Mr.  Clay,  for  his  judicious  and  conclusive  report  in 
behalf  of  a  pacific  course. 

The  effect  of  the  president's  message  recommending  reprisals 
and  conveying  an  imputation  upon  the  good  faith  of  Louis  Philippe, 
was  such  as  might  have  been  anticipated.  The  French  king  was 
justly  offended.  The  French  minister  was  at  once  recalled  from 
Washington,  and  a  charge  d'affaires  substituted.  Passports  were 
tendered  to  our  minister  at  Paris.  In  consequence  of  these  de- 
Jrelopments,  Mr.  Clay,  on  the  last  day  of  the  session,  made 
another  and  a  briefer  report  from  the  committee  on  foreign  rela- 


THE  CHEROKEE  MEMORIAL.  173 

lions,  in  which  the  committee  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
senate  ought  to  adhere  to  the  resolution,  adopted  the  14th  of 
January,  to  await  the  result  of  another  appeal  to  the  French 
chambers  ;  and,  in  the  meantime,  to  intimate  no  ulterior  purpose, 
but  to  hold  itself  in  reserve  for  whatever  exigencies  might  arise. 
The  senate  concurred  in  the  advice  of  the  committee,  who  were 
then  discharged  from  the  further  consideration  of  the  subject. 

On  the  4th  of  February,  1835,  Mr.  Clay  made  a  brilliant  and 
impressive  speech  in  the  senate,  upon  the  subject  of  a  memorial, 
which  he  presented  from  certain  Indians  of  the  Cherokee  tribe. 
The  memorial  set  forth,  in  eloquent  and  becoming  terms,  the  con 
dition  of  the  tribe,  their  grievances  and  their  wants.  It  seemed 
that  of  the  remnant  of  this  people  then  in  Georgia,  one  portion 
were  desirous  of  being  aided  to  remove  beyond  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  other  wished  to  remain  where  they  were,  and  to  be  re 
moved  from  the  rigid  restrictions  which  the  state  of  Georgia  had 
imposed  upon  them.  In  his  remarks,  Mr.  Clay  eloquently  alluded 
to  the  solemn  treaties  by  which  the  possession  of  their  lands  had 
been  secured  to  these  Indians  by  our  government.  The  faith  of 
the  United  States  had  been  pledged  that  they  should  continue 
unmolested  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  hunting-grounds.  In  defi 
ance  of  these  sacred  stipulations,  Georgia  had  claimed  jurisdic 
tion  over  the  tribe — had  parcelled  out  their  lands,  and  disposed  of 
them  by  lottery — degraded  the  Cherokees  to  the  condition  of  serfs 
—  denied  them  all  the  privileges  of  freedom,  and  rendered  their 
condition  infinitely  worse  than  that  of  the  African  slave.  It  was 
the  interest,  as  well  as  the  pride  of  the  master,  to  provide  for  the 
health  and  comfort  of  his  slave  ;  but  what  human  being  was  there 
to  care  for  these  unfortunate  Indians  ? 

As  Mr.  Clay  warmed  in  his  remarks,  and  dwelt,  more  in  sorrow 
than  in  anger,  upon  the  wrongs  and  outrages  perpetrated  in 
Georgia  upon  the  unoffending  aborigines  within  her  borders, 
many  of  his  hearers  were  affected  to  tears,  and  he  himself  was 
obviously  deeply  moved.  The  occasion  was  rendered  still  more 
Interesting  by  the  presence  of  a  Cherokee  chief  and  a  female  of 
the  tribe,  who  seemed  to  listen  to  the  orator  with  a  painfully  eager 
attention.  In  conclusion,  Mr.  Clay  submitted  a  resolution,  direct 
ing  the  committee  on  the  judiciary  to  inquire  into  the  expediency 


174  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

of  making  farther  provision  by  law  to  enable  Indian  tribes,  to 
whom  lands  had  been  secured  by  treaty,  to  defend  and  maintain 
their  rights  to  such  lands  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  ; 
also,  a  resolution  directing  the  committee  on  Indian  affairs  to 
inquire  into  the  expediency  of  setting  apart  a  district  of  country, 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  for  such  of  the  Cherokee  nation  as  were 
disposed  to  emigrate,  and  for  securing  in  perpetuity  their  peaceful 
enjoyment  thereof  to  themselves  and  their  descendants. 

The  oppressed  aboriginal  tribes  have  always  found  in  Mr.  Clay 
a  friend  and  a  champion.  Although  coming  from  a  state  which, 
in  consequence  of  the  numerous  Indian  massacres  of  which  it 
nas  been  the  theatre,  has  received  the  appellation  of  "  the  dark 
and  bloody  ground,"  he  has  never  suffered  any  unphilosophical 
prejudice  against  the  unfortunate  red  men,  to  blind  his  sense  of 
justice  or  check  the  promptings  of  humanity.  He  has  constantly 
been  among  the  most  active  vindicators  of  their  cause  —  the  most 
efficient  advocates  of  a  liberal  policy  toward  them. 

To  General  Jackson's  administration,  we  are  indebted  for  the 
system  which  makes  the  offices  of  the  federal  government  the 
rewards  of  political  partisanship,  and  proscribes  all  incumbents 
who  may  entertain  opinions  at  variance  with  those  of  the  execu 
tive.  The  government  of  the  United  States  disposes  of  an  annual 
patronage  of  nearly  forty  millions  of  dollars.  By  the  corrupt  use 
of  this  immense  fund,  the  Jackson  dynasty  sustained  and  per 
petuated  itself  in  spite  of  the  people.  Here  was  the  secret  of  its 
strength.  Commit  what  violence,  outrage  what  principle,  assail 
what  interests  he  might,  President  Jackson  threw  himself  back 
upon  his  patronage  and  found  protection.  The  patronage  of  the 
press,  the  patronage  of  the  postoffice,  the  patronage  of  the 
customhouse,  with  its  salaries,  commissions,  and  fees — the  pa 
tronage  of  the  land-office,  with  its  opportunities  of  successful 
speculation — these  formed  the  stronghold  and  citadel  of  corrupt 
power. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  February,  1835,  Mr.  Clay  addressed  the 
senate  in  support  of  the  bill  for  the  abatement  of  executive  pa 
tronage.  His  speech  contains  a  striking  exposition  of  the  evils 
resulting  from  the  selfish  and  despotic  exercise,  on  the  part  of 
the  chief  magistrate,  of  the  appointing  and  removing  power ;  and 


OFfER    OF    BRITISH    MEDIATION.  173 

is  pervaded  by  that  truly  democratic  spirit  which  has  character 
ized  all  the  public  acts  of  the  author. 

A  bill  making  an  appropriation  for  the  Cumberland  road,  was 
discussed  m  the  senate  early  in  February.  Mr.  Clay  spoke  in 
favor  of  the  appropriation,  but  adversely  to  the  policy  of  surren 
dering  the  road  to  the  states  through  which  it  runs. 


XV. 

PUBLIC    LANDS SPECIE    CIRCULAR EXPUNGING    RESOLVE. 

OUR  affairs  with  France,  occupied  a  considerable  portion  of 
President  Jackson's  message  to  the  24th  Congress  at  its  first 
session.  Mr.  Clay  was  again  placed  at  the  head  of  the  commit 
tee  on  foreign  relations  ;  and,  on  the  llth  of  January,  1836,  he 
introduced  a  resolution  to  the  senate,  calling  upon  the  president 
for  information  with  regard  to  our  affairs  with  France,  and  for  the 
communication  of  certain  overtures  made  by  the  French  govern 
ment.  An  additional  resolution  was  presented  by  him  two  or 
three  weeks  afterward,  calling  for  the  communication  of  the  ex 
pose  which  accompanied  the  French  bill  of  indemnity  of  the  27th 
of  April,  1835  ;  and  also,  copies  of  certain  notes  which  passed 
between  the  Due  de  Broglie  and  our  charge,  Mr.  Barton  ;  together 
with  those  addressed  by  our  minister,  Mr.  Livingston,  to  the 
French  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  or  to  the  secretary  of  state 
of  the  United  States.  These  resolutions  were  adopted,  with 
amendments. 

On  the  8th  of  February,  1836,  a  message  from  the  president 
was  received,  announcing  that  the  government  of  Great  Britain 
had  offered  its  mediation  for  the  adjustment  of  the  dispute  between 
the  United  States  and  France.  The  message  was  referred  to 
the  committee  on  foreign  affairs ;  and  on  the  22d  of  February,  a 
correspondence  between  the  secretary  of  state  and  Mr.  Bankhead, 
on  the  subject  of  British  mediation,  was  submitted.  This  gave 
occasion  for  some  remarks  from  Mr.  Clay,  who  said  that  he  could 
not  withhold  the  expression  of  his  congratulation  to  the  senate, 


176  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

foi*  the  agency  it  had  in  producing  the  happy  termination  of  oil* 
difficulties  with  France.  If  the  senate  had  not,  by  its  unanimous 
vote  of  last  September,  declared  that  it  was  inexpedient  to  adopt 
any  legislative  action  upon  the  subject  of  our  relations  with 
France  ;  if  it  had  yielded  to  the  recommendations  of  the  execu 
tive  in  ordering  reprisals  against  that  power,  it  could  not  be 
doubted  but  that  war  would  have  existed  at  that  moment  in  its 
most  serious  state. 

Mr.  Clay  renewed  his  exertions  in  behalf  of  his  land  bill, 
during  this  session.  On  the  14th  of  April,  it  was  taken  up  in  the 
senate  as  the  special  order,  and  discussed  nearly  every  day  for  a 
period  of  two  weeks,  during  which  he  was  frequently  called  upon 
to  defend  and  explain  its  provisions.  His  speech  of  April  26^ 
is  remarkable  for  the  vigor  of  its  arguments  and  the  force  of  its 
appeals.  Of  this  effort,  the  National  Intelligencer  said :  "  We 
thought,  after  hearing  the  able  and  comprehensive  arguments  of 
Messrs.  Ewing,  Southard,  and  White,  in  favor  of  this  beneficent 
measure,  that  the  subject  was  exhausted  ;  that,  at  any  rate,  but 
little  new  could  be  urged  in  its  defence.  Mr.  Clay,  however,  in 
one  of  the  most  luminous  and  forcible  arguments  which  we  have 
ever  heard  him  deliver,  placed  the  subject  in  new  lights,  and  gave 
to  it  new  claims  to  favor.  The  whole  train  of  his  reasoning  ap 
peared  to  us  a  series  of  demonstrations." 

The  land  bill,  essentially  the  same  as  that  vetoed  by  General 
Jackson,  passed  the  senate  the  4th  of  May,  1836,  by  a  vote  of 
twenty-five  to  twenty,  and  was  sent  to  the  house.  But  the  in 
fluence  of  the  executive  was  too  potent  here  yet  to  admit  of  the 
passage  of  a  measure  which,  though  approved  by  the  majority, 
was  opposed  by  the  president  because  of  its  having  originated 
with  Mr.  Clay. 

The  question  of  the  right  of  petition  came  before  the  senate 
early  in  the  session.  On  the  llth  of  January,  Mr.  Buchanan 
presented  a  memorial  from  a  religious  society  of  friends  in  Penn 
sylvania,  requesting  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  and  the  slave- 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  He  moved  that  the  memorial 
should  be  read,  and  the  prayer  of  the  memorialists  be  rejected. 
Mr.  Calhoun  demanded  that  the  question  should  be  first  taken 
whether  the  petition  be  received  or  not ;  and  a  debate,  which  was 


THE    RIGHT    OF    PETITION.  177 

prolonged  at  various  intervals  till  the  9th  of  March,  sprang  up  on 
this  preliminary  question.  Before  the  question  was  taken,  Mr. 
Clay  briefly  explained  his  views.  On  the  subject  of  the  right  of 
Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  disjj^,  he  was  inclined  to 
think,  and  candor  required  the  avowal,  mat  the  right  did  exist ; 
though  he  should  take  a  future  opportunity  of  expressing  his  views 
in  opposition  to  the  expediency  of  the  exercise  of  that  power. 
He  expressed  his  disapprobation  of  the  motion  to  receive  and  im 
mediately  reject,  made  by  the  senator  from  Pennsylvania  (Mr. 
Buchanan).  He  thought  that  the  right  of  petition  required  of  the 
servants  of  the  people  to  examine,  deliberate,  and  decide,  either 
to  grant  or  refuse  the  prayer  of  a  petition,  giving  the  reasons  for 
such  decision  ;  and  that  such  was  the  best  mode  of  putting  an 
end  to  the  agitation  of  the  public  on  the  subject. 

The  question  "  Shall  the  petition  be  received  ?"  being  taken, 
was  decided  in  the  affirmative  —  yeas  36  ;  nays  10. 

Mr.  Clay  then  offered  an  amendment  to  Mr.  Buchanan's  motion 
to  reject,  in  which  amendment  the  principal  reasons  why  the 
prayer  of  the  memorialists  could  not  be  granted,  are  succinctly 
given.  The  amendment,  not  meeting  the  views  of  some  of  his 
southern  friends,  was  subsequently  withdrawn  by  Mr.  Clay,  who 
maintained,  however,  that  he  could  not  assent  that  Congress  had 
no  constitutional  power  to  legislate  on  the  prayer  of  the  petition. 
The  subject  was  at  length  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote  of  twenty- 
four  to_ twenty  ;  but  the  friends  of  the  sacred,  unqualified  right  of 
petition,  should  not  forget  that  Mr.  Clay  has  ever  upheld  their 
cause  with  his  best  energies  and  his  warmest  zeal. 

A  report  from  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  showing  the  con- , 
ditiori  of  the  deposite  banks,  came  before  the  senate  for  consider*'- 
ation,  the  17th  of  March,  1836.     Mr.  Clay  forcibly  depicted,  on  I 
this  occasion,  the  total  insecurity  of  the  vast  public  treasure  in 
the  keeping  of  these  banks.     What  was  then  prophecy  became 
history  soon  afterward.     "  Suppose,"  said  he,  "  a  great  deficiency 
of  southern  crops,  or  any  other  crisis  creating  a  necessity  for  the 
exportation  of   specie  to  Europe,  instead  of  the  ordinary  ship 
ments.      These  banks  would  be  compelled  to  call  in  their  issues. 
This  would  compel  other  banks  to  call  in,  in  like  manner,  and  a 
panic  and  general  want  of  confidence  would  ensue.     Then  what 
H*  12 


178  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

/would  become  of  the  public  money  ?"  It  is  unnecessary  to  point 
to  the  fulfilment  of  these  predictions.  Soon  after  the  deposites 
were  removed  to  the  pet  banks,  they  became  the  basis  of  vast 
land  speculations,  into  which  all  who  could  obtain  a  share  of  the 
government  money,  plunged  at  once  heeis  over  head  ;  postmasters, 
custom-house  officers,  navy  agents,  pet-bank  directors,  cashiers 
and  presidents,  district  attorneys,  government  printers,  secretaries 
of  state,  postmasters-general,  attorneys-general,  president's  sec 
retaries,  and  all  the  innumerable  stipendiaries  of  the  administra 
tion.  It  was  this  wild  speculation,  fostered  and  conducted  by 
the  facilities  of  the  deposite  banks,  that  filled  the  treasury  with 
unavailable  funds.  The  experiment  terminated,  as  Mr.  Clay 
prophesied  it  would  terminate,  in  universal  bankruptcy. 

On  the  8th  of  June,  Mr.  Clay,  from  the  committee  on  foreign 
relations,  introduced  a  report  with  a  resolution,  for  recognising 
the  independence  of  Texas  whenever  satisfactory  information 
should  be  received  that  it  had  a  civil  government  in  successful 
operation.  Mr.  Preston  expressed  a  hope  that  the  executive  was 
by  that  time  in  possession  of  such  information  as  would  enable 
the  senate  to  adopt  stronger  measures  than  that  recommended  by 
the  committee  ;  and  he  submitted  a  resolution  calling  on  the 
president  for  such  information.  Mr.  Clay  wished  that  the  reso 
lution  might  be  taken  up  and  acted  on,  as  he  would  be  extremely 
glad  to  receive  information  that  would  authorize  stronger  meas 
ures  in  favor  of  Texas.  The  report  of  the  committee  was  con 
curred  in ;  and  Mr.  Preston's  resolution  ^was  adopted.  The 
result  of  the  call  upon  the  president,  and  of  the  discussion  that 
ensued,  was  the  unanimous  adoption,  by  the  senate,  on  the  1st 
of  July,  of  the  resolution  reported  by  Mr.  Clay  with  an  amend 
ment  by  Mr.  Preston,  adding  a  clause  expressing  the  satisfaction 
of  the  senate  at.  the  president's  having  taken  measures  for  ob 
taining  accurate  information  as  to  the  civil,  military,  and  political 
condition  of  Texas  Similar  resolutions  passed  the  house  July  4th 

Mr.  Clay  spoke  on  a  variety  of  questions  in  addition  to  those 
we  have  alluded  to,  during  the  session  of  1834-'35  ;  on  the 
motion  to  admit  the  senators  from  Michigan  on  the  floor,  and  the 
recognition  of  that  clause  in  the  constitution  of  Michigan,  which 
he  conceived  to  give  to  aliens  the  right  to  vote  ;  on  the  resolution 


NARROW    ESCAPE    FROM    A    VIOLENT    DEATH.  179 

of  Mr.  Calhoun  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  such  a  reduction 
of  duties  as  would  not  affect  the  manufacturing  interest ;  on  the 
fortification  bill,  &c.  Congress  adjourned  the  4th  of  July,  1836. 

On  his  return  to  Kentucky,  a  dinner  was  given  to  Mr.  Clay  by 
his  fellow-citizens  of  Woodford  county.  During  his  absence 
from  home,  he  had  experienced  heavy  afflictions  in  the  death  of 
a  beloved  daughter  and  of  his  only  sister.  On  rising  to  speak, 
he  was  so  overcome  by  the  recollection  of  these  losses,  added  to 
an  allusion  which  had  been  made  to  the  remains  of  his  mother 
being  buried  in  Woodford,  that  he  was  obliged  to  resume  his  seat. 
He  soon  rallied,  however,  and  addressed  the  company  for  about 
two  hours,  in  an  animated  and  powerful  strain.  He  reviewed 
the  recent  acts  of  the  administration — their  constant  tampering 
with  the  currency  —  the  treasury  order,  directing  that  all  pay 
ments  for  lands  should  be  made  in  specie — the  injustice  prac 
tised  toward  the  Indian  tribes  —  and  the  disgracefully  protracted 
Seminole  war.  In  conclusion,  Mr.  Clay  alluded  to  his  intended 
retirement  from  the  senate  of  the  United  States  —  an  intention 
which,  at  that  time,  he  fondly  cherished. 

So  fixed  was  his  wish  to  withdraw  from  public  life,  that  he 
had,  at  one  period,  in  ]  836,  made  up  his  mind  to  resign.  It  is 
certain,  that  he  looked  forward  with  confidence  to  declining  a  re 
election  ;  and  he  expressed  a  hope  at  the  Woodford  dinner  that 
the  state  would  turn  its  attention  to  some  other  citizen. 

In  the  autumn  of  1836,  Mr.  Clay  narrowly  escaped  a  violent 
death.  He  was  riding  on  horseback  in  one  of  his  fields,  survey 
ing  his  cattle,  when  a  furious  bull,  maddened  from  some  cause  or 
other,  rushed  toward  him,  and  plunging  his  horns  with  tremen 
dous  force  into  the  horse  on  which  Mr.  Clay  was  seated,  killed 
the  poor  animal  on  the  spot.  The  distinguished  rider  was  thrown 
to  the  distance  of  several  feet  from  his  horse,  but,  though  some 
what  hurt  by  the  fall,  escaped  without  material  injury. 

We  have  already  given  an  exposition  of  Mr.  Clay's  views  in. 
behalf  of  colonization.  In  1836,  he  was  unanimously  elected 
president  of  the  American  Colonization  Society,  in  the  room  of 
the  illustrious  ex-president  Madison,  deceased.  He  accepted 
the  appointment. 

During  the  winter  of  1636,  Mr.  Clay  was  re-elected  a  senator 


180  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

from  Kentucky  for  six  years  from  the  ensuing  4th  of  March. 
The  vote  stood  ;  for  Henry  Clay,  76  ;  for  James  Guthrie,  the  ad 
ministration  candidate,  54.  Eight  members  were  absent,  four  of 
whom,  it  is  said,  would  have  voted  for  Mr.  Clay. 

The  state  of  the  republic,  toward  the  termination  of  General 
Jackson's  second  presidential  term,  is  yet  vividly  in  the  recol 
lection  of  all  our  citizens.  He  had  found  the  country,  in  1829, 
in  a  condition  of  unexampled  prosperity.  The  government  was 
administered  with  economy  strictly  republican.  Congress  was 
the  dominant  power  in  the  land.  Commerce,  manufactures, 
agriculture,  flourished.  The  banking  system  was  in  a  state  of 
remarkable  soundness.  There  was  no  disposition  to  multiply 
local  banks.  There  was  neither  temptation  nor  ability  for  these 
banks  to  expand  their  issues.  The  failure  of  a  bank  was  an  oc 
currence  as  unusual  as  an  earthquake.  Labor  was  sure  of 
employment,  and  sure  of  its  reward.  There  were  few  brokers, 
usurers,  and  money-lenders,  by  profession.  There  were  no 
speculators  by  profession.  There  were  no  immense  operations 
in  fancy  stocks  and  land  schemes.  There  was  but  one  way  of 
growing  rich— hard  labor  —  assiduous  industry — early  rising — 
late  retiring — and  anxious,  devoted,  and  persevering  attention  to 
business.  Our  habits,  as  a  people,  were  simple  and  democratic. 
Our  FOREIGN  CREDIT  WAS  WITHOUT  A  STAIN.  The  debts  which 
we  contracted  abroad  were  such  as  we  could  pay — and  paid  they 
were,  with  scrupulous  and  honorable  punctuality.  OUR  CUR 
RENCY  WAS,  WITHOUT  EXCEPTION,  THE  MOST  PERFECT  ON  THE 

FACE  OF  THE  GLOBE.  No  man  ever  lost  a  cent  by  it.  It  was 
abundant,  safe,  and  well  accredited  in  every  part  of  the  world 
All  pecuniary  operations  of  trade  and  commerce  were  conducted 
with  the  most  wonderful  facility  and  regularity.  Gold  and  silver 
were  in  free  circulation,  and  there  was,  at  all  times,  an  abundant 
supply  of  the  smaller  coins.  Millions  on  millions  of  exchanges 
were  negotiated  in  every  quarter  of  the  country,  and  at  an  average 
rate  of  one  half  of  one  per  cent.  —  a  charge  merely  nominal  in 
comparison  with  the  subsequent  rates.  The  whole  machinery  of 
society,  government,  trade,  and  currency,  was  in  a  state  as  nearly 
approaching  perfection  as  human  wisdom  and  ingenuity  could 
compass. 


A    CONTRAST.  181 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  republic  in  1829.  Then  the 
destroyer  came  —  and  all  was  blasted.  For  eight  years  he 
managed  the  affairs  of  the  country  in  his  own  way  ;  and  HIS  WILL 

WAS  THE  LAW  OF  THE   LAND. 

During  those  eight  years,  what  a  change  came  over  our  affairs  ! 
The  whole  machinery  of  currency,  trade,  and  government,  was 
deranged.  The  land  was  flooded  with  three  or  four  hundred 
millions  of  irredeemable  paper.  The  smaller  coins  disappeared. 
Specie  payments  were  universally  suspended  ;  and  gold  and 
silver  were  no  more  a  currency  than  amethysts  and  diamonds. 
In  trade,  everything  ran  into  speculation.  Banks  sprang  up  like 
mushrooms  on  every  side.  Any  two  men  who  could  write  their 
names  so  as  to  sign  and  endorse  a  piece  of  paper,  were  enabled 
io  procure  "  facilities,"  which  generally  turned  out  to  be  facilities 
for  their  own  destruction.  Brokers,  usurers,  money-lenders, 
speculators,  multiplied  till  their  name  was  legion.  Everything 
was  unnaturally  distended,  until,  at  length,  trade  came  to  a  dead 
stand.  No  one  wanted  to  buy,  and  everybody  was  afraid  to  sell. 
There  was  an  utter  stagnation,  paralysis,  extinction,  of  business. 
Thousands  on  thousands  declared  themselves  individually  bank 
rupt.  Asa  nation,  we  were  notoriously  and  miserably  bankrupt  — 
and  we  had  hardly  foreign  credit  enough  to  make  it  either  safe  or 
decent  for  any  American  to  cross  the  Atlantic. 

In  government,  a  revolution  no  less  pernicious  was  accom 
plished.  Congress  became  a  mere  stepping-stone  to  lucrative 
appointments,  and  the  session  was  merely  a  convenient  reunion 
of  its  members  for  the  better  arrangement  of  their  land  specu 
lations,  and  the  more  convenient  distribution  of  the  government 
deposites  among  the  most  accommodating  banks.  The  heart  ot 
our  government  was  rotten  to  the  core  —  and,  like  our  currency 
and  our  trade,  it  presented  but  a  miserable  contrast  to  the  condi 
tion  of  1829.  And  all  these  revolutions  were  brought  about  by 
the  uncontrolled  ascendency  of  Jacksonism,  and  by  no  ?ther 
agency  under  heaven  ! 

Notwithstanding  these  deplorable  issues,  the  end  was  not  yet. 
The  Jackson  dynasty  was  to  be  perpetuated  still  another  term  in 
the  hands  of  him  who  was  proud  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  his 
"illustrious  predecessor."  The  presidential  e  ection  of  1836, 


182  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

terminated  in  the  choice  of  Martin  Van  Buren.  But  we  are  an 
ticipating  matters.  We  have  yet  the  short  session  of  Congress 
of  1836-'37  to  review,  before  we  take  leave  of  the  "  Hero  of  New 
Orleans." 

The  administration  had  now  a  majority  in  the  senate.  That 
noble  phalanx  of  whigs,  who  had  so  undauntedly  withstood  the 
usurpations  of  the  executive,  could  now  only  operate  as  a  minority, 
One  of  the  first  acts  of  Mr.  Clay,  was  to  reintroduce  his  land 
bill.  On  the  19th  of  December,  in  pursuance  of  previous  notice, 
he  presented  it  with  modifications  suited  to  the  changes  in  public 
affairs.  It  was  read  twice,  and  referred  to  the  committee  on 
public  lands,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Mr.  Walker  of  Missis 
sippi,  who,  on  the  3d  of  January,  gave  notice  that  he  was  in 
structed  by  the  committee  to  move  for  the  indefinite  postponement 
of  the  bill,  when  it  should  come  up  for  consideration.  Some 
days  afterward,  Mr.  Walker  introduced  his  bill  to  limit  the  sales 
of  the  public  lands,  except  to  actual  settlers,  and  in  limited 
quantities  ;  and  on  the  9th  of  February,  1837,  Mr.  Calhoun's 
extraordinary  bill,  nominally  selling,  but  in  reality  giving  to  the 
new  states  all  the  public  domain,  came  before  the  senate. 

Mr.  Clay  took  ground  at  once  against  this  scheme.  He  said 
that  four  or  five  years  before,  contrary  to  his  earnest  desire,  this 
subject  of  the  public  lands  was  forced  upon  him,  and  he  had, 
with  great  labor,  devised  a  plan  fraught  with  equity  to  all  the 
states.  It  received  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  both  houses,  and 
was  rejected  by  the  president.  He  had  always  considered  the 
public  domain  a  sacred  trust  for  the  country  and  for  posterity. 
He  was  opposed  to  any  measure  giving  away  this  property  for 
the  benefit  of  speculators  ;  and  he  was  therefore  opposed  to  this 
bill,  as  well  as  to  the  other  (Mr.  Walker's)  before  the  senate. 
He  had  hitherto  labored  in  vain  —  but  he  should  continue  to  op 
pose  all  these  schemes  for  robbing  the  old  states  of  their  rightful 
possessions.  He  besought  the  senate  to  abstain  from  these  ap 
peals  to  the  cupidity  of  the  new  states  from  party  inducements  ; 
and  he  appealed  to  the  senator  from  South  Carolina  whether,  if 
he  offered  them  higher  and  better  boons  than  the  party  in  power, 
he  did  not  risk  the  imputation  of  being  actuated  by  such  induce 
ments. 


MR.  CALHOUN'S  LAND-BILL.  183 

Fortunately  for  the  country,  the  rash  project  of  Mr  Calhoun 
did  not  reach  the  maturity  of  a  third  reading. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  the  bill  from  the  committee  on  finance, 
to  alter  and  amend  the  several  acts  imposing  duties  on  imports, 
being  before  the  senate,  Mr.  Clay  spoke  against  the  measure  at 
some  length.  His  principal  objection  arose  from  what  he  con 
ceived  to  be  the  interference  of  some  of  the  provisions  of  the 
bill  with  the  compromise  act  of  1833.  In  the  course  of  his  re 
marks,  he  gave  an  interesting  account  of  his  own  connection  with 
that  important  measure. 

He  then  went  on  to  draw  a  striking  parallel  between  the  coin- 
promise  act  of  1833  as  to  the  protective  system,  and  that  other 
compromise  act  which  settled  the  much-agitated  Missouri  question, 
and  by  which  the  latitude  of  36  degrees  30  minutes,  was  estab 
lished  as  the  extreme  boundary  for  the  existence  of  slavery 
in  that  state.  Had  not  Congress  a  right  to  repeal  that  law? 
But  what  would  those  southern  gentlemen,  who  now  so  strenu 
ously  urged  a  violation  of  our  implied  faith  in  regard  to  the  act 
of  1833,  say  if  a  measure  like  that  should  be  attempted  ? 

^Mr.  Clay  concluded  with  a  motion  to  re-commit  the  bill  for  the 
reduction  of  duties  to  the  committee  on  finance,  with  instructions 
to  strike  out  all  those  articles  comprised  in  the  bill,  which  then 
paid  a  duty  of  20  per  cent,  and  upward,  embraced  in  the  com 
promise  act.  The  motion  was  lost — 25  nays  to  24  yeas  ;  and 
the  bill  was  the  same  day  passed  by  a  vote  27  to  18. 

Early  in  the  session,  Mr.  Ewing  had  introduced  a  joint  reso 
lution  rescinding  the  treasury  order  by  which  all  payments  for 
public  lands  were  to  be  made  in  specie.  On  the  llth  of  Jan 
uary,  Mr.  Clay  addressed  the  senate  in  a  speech  replete  with 
arguments  and  facts  in  support  of  the  resolution,  and  in  opposi 
tion  to  an  amendment,  which  had  been  offered  by  Mr.  Rives. 
The  resolution  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  public  lands, 
who  instructed  their  chairman  to  lay  it  on  the  table  when  it 
should  come  up.  On  the  18th  of  January,  a  bill  rescinding  the 
specie  circular  was  reported  by  Mr.  Walker.  It  subsequently- 
passed  the  senate,  with  some  slight  amendments,  by  a  vote  of  41 
to  5;  and  he  received  the  sanction  of  the  other  house  ;  but  not 
withstanding  thi?  fact,  and  the  additional  well-known  fact,  that 


184  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

the  order  had  been  originally  promulgated  in  defiance  of  the 
opinion  of  Congress  and  the  wishes  of  the  people,  the  bill,  "  in 
stead  of  being  returned  to  the  house  in  which  it  originated,  ac 
cording  to  the  requirement  of  the  constitution,  was  sent  to  one 
of  the  pigeon-holes  of  the  department  of  state,  to  be  filed  away 
with  an  opinion  of  a  convenient  attorney-general,  always  ready 
to  prepare  one  in  support  of  executive  encroachment." 

Mr.  Van  Buren  manifested  the  same  contempt  for  the  will  of 
the  people,  expressed  by  Congress,  as  had  been  shown  by  his 
"  illustrious  predecessor,"  and  refused  to  interfere  until  the  specie 
circular  repealed  itself  in  the  catastrophe  of  a  universal  suspen 
sion. 

On  the  12th  of  January,  a  resolution,  offered  by  Mr.  Benton 
to  expunge  from  the  journals  of  the  senate  for  1833-'34,  Mr. 
Clay's  resolution  censuring  President  Jackson  for  his  unau 
thorized  removal  of  the  public  deposites,  came  before  the  sen 
ate  for  consideration;  and  on  the  16th  Mr.  Clay  discussed  the 
question  at  considerable  length.  His  speech  was  in  a  strain  of 
mingled  sarcasm  and  indignant  invective,  which  made  the  sub 
servient  majority  writhe  under  its  scorching  power.  Never  was 
a  measure  placed  in  a  more  contemptible  light  than  was  the  ex- 
punging  proposal  by  Mr.  Clay.  Those  who  heard  him,  can 
never  forget  the  look  and  tone,  varying  from  an  expression  of 
majestic  scorn  to  one  of  good-humored  satire,  with  which  he 
gave  utterance  to  the  following  eloquent  passages  : — 

"  What  patriotic  purpose  is  to  be  accomplished  by  this  expunging  resolu 
tion?  Can  you  make  that  not  to  be  which  has  been?  Can  you  eradicate 
from  memory  and  from  history  the  fact  that  in  March,  1834,  a  majority  of 
the  senate  of  the  United  States  passed  a  resolution  which  excites  your  en 
mity  ?  Is  it  your  vain  and  wicked  object  to  arrogate  to  yourself  the  power 
of  annihilating  the  past  which  has  been  denied  to  Omnipotence  itself?  Do 
you  intend  to  thrust  your  hands  into  our  hearts,  and  pluck  out  the  deeply 
rooted  convictions  which  are  there?  Or  is  it  your  design  merely  to  stig 
matize  us?  You  cannot  stigmatize  us :  — 

" '  Ne'er  yet  did  base  dishonor  blur  our  name.' 

"Standing  securely  upon  our  conscious  rectitude,  and  bearing  aloft  the 
shield  of  the  constitution  of  our  country,  your  puny  efforts  are  impotent, 
and  we  defy  all  your  power.  Put  the  majority  of  1834  in  one  scale,  and 
that  by  which  this  expunging  resolution  is  to  be  carried  in  the  other,  and 
let  truth  and  justice,  in  heaven  above,  and  on  earth  below,  and  liberty  and 
patriotism,  decide  the  preponderance. 

"  What  patriotric  purpose  is  to  be  accomplished  by  this  expunging  resolu- 


PASSAGE    OF    THE    EXPUNGING    RESOLUTION.  185 

tion?  Is  it  to  appease  the  wrath  and  to  heal  the  wounded  pride  of  the 
chief  magistrate  ?  If  he  be  really  the  hero  that  his  friends  represent  him, 
he  must  despise  all  mean  condescension,  all  grovelling  sycophancy,  all  self 
degradation,  and  self-abasement.  He  would  reject,  with  scorn  and  con 
tempt,  as  unworthy  of  his  fame,  your  black  scratches,  and  your  baby  lines 
iif'the  fair  records  of  his  country.'' 

This  expunging  resolution  was  passed  ;  but  no  one  will  envy 
the  immorality  to  which  the  "  knights  of  the  black  lines"  have 
beer  consigned. 

Mr.  Clay  addressed  the  senate  upon  several  other  important 
questions  during  the  session  of  1836-'37.  Among  them  were 
that  upon  the  fortification  bill,  which  were  returned  to  the  senate 
after  the  house  had  insisted  on  the  clause  for  a  second  distribu 
tion  of  the  surplus  revenue  ;  and  the  resolution  from  the  com 
mittee  on  foreign  relations,  on  the  subject  of  our  affairs  with 
Mexico. 


XVI. 

THE    SUB-TREASURY NORTHERN    TOUR. 

MR.  CLAY  had  uniformly  discouraged  the  attempts  of  his 
friends  to  induce  him  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  presidency 
in  the  campaign  of  1836.  He  saw  the  unhappy  diversity  in  the 
ranks  of  the  opposition ;  and  he  saw,  perhaps,  the  inevitable 
ability  of  the  Jackson  dynasty  to  perpetuate  itself  in  the  elevation 
of  Mr.  Van  Buren.  So  potent  had  the  executive  become,  through 
usurpation  and  the  abuse  of  patronage  ! 

On  the  8th  of  February,  that  being  the  day  appointed  by  stat 
ute  for  opening  the  electoral  returns  for  the  presidency  and 
vice-presidency  of  the  United  States,  the  result  was  proclaimed 
in  the  presence  of  both  houses  of  Congress.  The  following  was 
ascertained  to  be  the  state  of  the  vote  : — 

For  President.  Vice-President, 


Van  Buren 170 

Harrison 73 

White 26 

Webster 14 

Mangum 11 

294 


Johnson 147 

Granger 77 

Tyler .  47 

Smith 28 


294 


186  Lit  Hi    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

It  was  then  declared  that  it  appeared  that  Martin  Van  Buren 
had  been  duly  elected  president  of  the  United  States,  for  four 
years  from  the  4th  of  March,  1837;  and  that  no  person  had  a 
majority  of  all  the  votes  for  the  vice-presidency,  and  that  IVJjr.. 
Johnson  and  Mr.  Granger  had  the  largest  number  of  votes  of  all 
the  candidates.  Mr.  Johnson  was  afterward  duly  chosen. 

It  had  been  hoped  by  many  that  under  Mr.  Van  Buren  a  less 
destructive  policy  would  be  adopted  than  that  which  had  signal 
ized  the  reign  of  the  "hero  of  New  Orleans."  For  the  last 
eight  years  the  country  had  been  governed  by  executive  edicts. 
Congress  had  always  been  disposed  to  do  right,  but  it  had  been 
thwarted  by  a  domineering  and  usurping  executive.  The  will 
of  the  people,  constitutionally  avowed,  had  been  constantly  de 
feated  by  the  imperious  and  impetuous  objections  of  one  fallible 
and  passionate  old  man. 

Congress  passed  Mr.  Clay's  land  bill ;  but  the  executive  de 
stroyed  it. 

Congress  said  that  the  deposites  were  safe  in  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  ;  the  executive  removed  them. 

Congress  refused  to  issue  a  specie  circular ;  it  was  issued  by 
the  executive. 

Congress  rescinded  the  specie  circular ;  and  the  executive 
defeated  that  rescission. 

Now  the  doctrine  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  as  adopted  and  always 
acted  upon  by  Henry  Clay,  is,  that  THE  WILL  OF  THE  MAJORITY 

HONESTLY    EXPRESSED,  SHALL  GIVE   LAW.       But  Congress  had  ttO 

influence  in  the  government  during  the  pernicious  ascendency 
of  Jacksonism.  It  came  together  to  pass  appropriation  bills,  and 
register  the  decrees  of  the  chief  magistrate.  The  noble  major 
ity  in  the  sena>.%  for  a  while,  prevented  much  mischief,  but  they 
could  originate  and  prosecute  no  settled  policy,  in  consequence 
of  the  administration  majority  in  the  other  branch.  We  lived 
literally  under  executive  legislation.  Where  the  president  could 
not  vote,  he  could  do  some  act  of  violence,  and  compel  Congress 
either  to  leave  the  country  without  law,  or  to  adapt  its  legislation 
to  the  existing  exigencies.  Thus  he  could  not  prevail  on  Con 
gress  to  remove  the  deposites — but  when  they  were  removed,  to 
"  furnish  an  instrument  of  power  to  himself  and  of  plunder  to  his 


THE    EXTRA    SESSION.  187 

partisans" — Congress  was  compelled  either  to  leave  them  with 
out  law,  or  to  pass  laws  for  the  regulation  of  the  new  depositories. 

The  hopes  that  had  been  entertained  of  a  reform  under  Mr, 
Van  Buren  had  proved  fallacious ;  but  his  attempt  to  march  in. 
the  "  seven-leagued  boots"  of  his  predecessor  speedily  resulted 
in  a  ridiculous  failure.  He  was  tripped  up  at  the  very  start. 

The  disastrous  condition  in  which  the  country  was  left  by  the 
"  hero  of  New  Orleans,"  whose  "  humble  efforts''  to  improve  the 
currency  had  resulted  in  the  universal  prostration  of  business, 
and  a  suspension  of  specie  payments,  called  upon  his  successor 
in  the  presidential  chair  for  some  immediate  measure  of  relief. 
On  the  15th  of  May,  1837,  Mr.  Van  Buren  issued  his  proclama 
tion  ordering  an  extraordinary  session  of  Congress,  to  commence 
the  first  Monday  in  September.  In  accordance  with  that  proc 
lamation,  both  houses  of  Congress  met  at  the  capitol  on  the  day 
appointed ;  and  the  message  recommending  the  SUB-TREASURY 
SYSTEM  for  the  deposite,  transfer,  and  disbursement  of  the  public 
revenue,  was  transmitted  by  the  president.  The  consequence 
was  an  instantaneous  loss  of  his  majority  in  the  house  of  repre 
sentatives. 

In  the  election  of  speaker,  at  the  commencement  of  the  extra 
session,  224  members  voted,  making  113  necessary  to  a  choice. 
Mr.  Polk  received  116  votes,  and  was  elected.  Then  came  the 
sub-treasury  message,  and  the  vote  on  the  election  of  printer  in 
dicated  a  sudden  disaffection  in  the  ranks,  and  a  general  break 
ing  up  of  the  administration  party.  On  the  twelfth  and  final 
balloting,  Thomas  Allen,  editor  of  the  Madisonian,  was  elected 
over  the  Van  Buren  candidates,  Blair  and  Rives.  A  decided 
majority  of  the  house  had  been  elected  as  friends  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren :  but  so  alarming  seemed  his  sub-treasury  plan,  which 
was,  in  other  words,  a  scheme  for  placing  the  public  purse  under 
the  control  of  the  president,  that  he  was  defeated  in  the  very 
first  party  vote  after  the  election  of  speaker. 

The  leading  topic  of  the  session  was  of  course  the  new  sub 
treasury  project ;  and  it  was  discussed  in  the  senate  with  grea. 
ability  on  both  sides.     By  this  bill,  the  treasury  of  the  United 
States,  the  treasures  of  the  mint  and  its  branches,  collectors,  re 
ceivers,  postmasters,  and  other  office-holders,  were  commissioned 


188  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

to  receive  in  specie,  and  keep,  subject  to  the  draft  of  the  proper 
department,  all  public  moneys,  coming  into  their  hands,  instead 
of  depositing  them,  as  heretofore,  in  banks.  Among  the  earliest 
and  most  prominent  advocates  of  this  measure  was  Mr.  Calhoun, 
who  suddenly  found  himself  one  of  the  leaders  of  a  party,  which 
for  the  last  five  or  six  years  he  had  been  denouncing  as  the  most 
corrupt  that  had  ever  cursed  a  country. 

The  bill  was  taken  up  in  the  senate,  the  20th  of  September ; 
and  on  the  25th,  Mr.  Clay  spoke  in  opposition  to  this  audacious 
and  anti-republican  scheme.  In  this  admirable  speech  he  went 
at  length  into  an  examination  of  the  causes  that  had  led  to  the 
existing  disastrous  state  of  public  affairs.  To  the  financial  ex 
periments  of  General  Jackson,  he  traced  back  unerringly  the 
consequent  inflation  of  the  currency — the  wild  speculations, 
which  had  risen  to  their  height  when  they  began  to  be  checked 
by  the  preparations  of  the  local  banks,  necessary  to  meet  the 
deposite  law  of  June,  1836 — the  final  suspension  of  specie  pay 
ments —  and  all  the  disorders  in  the  currency,  commerce,  and 
general  business  of  the  country,  that  ensued.  He  then  gave  his 
objections  to  the  scheme  before  the  senate.  It  proposed  one 
currency  for  the  government  and  another  for  the  people.  As 
well  might  it  be  attempted  to  make  the  government  breathe  a 
different  air,  be  lit  and  warmed  by  a  different  sun,  from  the  peo 
ple  !  A  hard-money  government,  and  a  paper-money  people ! 
A  government,  an  official  corps — the  servants  of  the  people  — 
glittering  in  gold,  and  the  people  themselves  —  their  masters  — 
buried  in  ruin,  and  surrounded  by  rags  !  By  the  proposed  sub 
stitution  of  an  exclusive  metallic  currency  for  the  mixed  medi 
um,  all  property  would  be  reduced  in  value  to  one  third  of  its 
present  nominal  amount ;  and  every  debtor  would  in  effect  have 
to  pay  three  times  as  much  as  he  had  contracted  for.  Then 
there  was  the  security  of  the  system — the  liability  to  favoritism 
in  the  fiscal  negotiations — the  fearful  increase  of  executive  pat 
ronage —  the  absolute  and  complete  union  of  the  purse  and  the 
sword  in  the  hands  of  the  president !  All  these  objections  were 
most  powerfully  elucidated  and  enforced  by  Mr.  Clay. 

He  then  proceeded  to  declare  what  he  believed  to  be  the  only 
efficient  measure  for  restoring  a  sound  and  uniform  currency, 


DEFEAT    OF    THE    SUB-TREASURY    BILL.  189 

which  was  a  United  States  bank,  established  under  such  restric 
tions,  as  me  lights  of  recent  experience  might  suggest.  "  But," 
said  Mr.  Clay,  "  if  a  national  bank  be  established,  its  stability 
and  its  utility  will  depend  upon  the  general  conviction  which  is  felt 
of  its  necessity.  And  until  such  a  conviction  is  deeply  impressed 
upon  the  people,  and  clearly  manifested  by  them,  it  would,  in  my 
judgment,  be  unwise  even  to  propose  a  bank" 

On  the  4th  of  October,  the  sub-treasury  bill,  after  undergoing 
various  amendments,  was  read  a  third  time  and  passed  by  the 
senate  by  a  vote  of  25  to  20.  It  was  taken  up  in  the  house  on 
the  10th  of  October,  and,  on  the  14th,  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote 
of  120  to  107. 

The  defeat  of  this  measure,  in  the  teeth  of  the  executive  rec 
ommendation,  in  spite  of  executive  blandishment  and  terrors  — 
the  triumph  of  the  majority  without  doors  over  the  majority  within, 
and  of  both  over  patronage  and  power — revived  the  dying  hopes 
of  the  patriot,  and  infused  new  life  into  our  constitution.  The 
sceptre  of  misrule  had  crumbled.  The  dynasty,  which  for  nearly 
nine  years  had  misruled  the  country,  received,  on  that  occasion, 
its  immedicable  wound. 

A  resolution,  reported  by  Mr.  Wright  from  the  committee  on 
finance,  in  relation  to  the  petitions  for  a  national  bank,  was  called 
up  in  the  senate,  the  26th  of  September.  The  resolution  declared 
that  the  prayer  of  the  memorialists  ought  not  to  be  granted.  In 
his  remarks  upon  this  subject,  Mr.  Clay  alluded  to  the  case  in 
which  Mr.  Randolph  moved,  in  the  house  of  representatives,  a 
similiar  negative  resolution  — "  That  it  is  inexpedient  to  declare 
war  against  Great  Britain."  Mr.  Clay  said,  that  if  Mr.  W.  per 
sisted  in  his  resolution,  he  should  move  to  strike  out  all  after  the 
word  Resolved,  and  substitute  :  "  That  it  will  be  expedient  to 
establish  a  bank  of  the  United  States  whenever  it  shall  be  manifest 
that  a  clear  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  desire  such 
an  institution."  The  motion  was  subsequently  made  and  lost ; 
and  Mr.  Wright's  resolution  was  adopted.  The  party  then  in 
power  seem  to  have  had  but  little  reverence  for  the  wishes  of  a 
"  clear  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States." 

The  extra-session  lasted  six  weeks  —  Congress  adjournirg  on 
the  morning  of  the  16th  of  October.  The  measure,  on  \vhich 


190  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

the  hopes  and  fate  of  the  administration  were  staked,  had  been 
defeated. 

The  sub-treasury  project  came  again  before  the  25th  Congress 
at  their  second  session.  The  19th  of  February,  1838,  Mr.  Clay 
once  more  addressed  the  senate  in  opposition  to  the  measure. 
This  speech  is  one  of  the  longest  and  ablest  ever  delivered  by 
him.  At  the  commencement,  he  stated  certain  propositions, 
which  he  would  proceed  to  demonstrate.  He  contended — 

1st.  That  it  was  the  deliberate  purpose  and  fixed  design  of  the  late 
Administration  to  establish  a  government — a  treasury  bank — to  be  adminis 
tered  and  controlled  by  the  executive  department. 

2d.  That,  with  that  view,  and  to  that  end,  it  was  its  aim  and  intention  to 
overthrow  the  whole  banking  system,  as  existing  in  the  United  States  when 
the  administration  came  into  power,  beginning  with  the  bank  of  the  United 
States,  and  ending  with  the  state  banks. 

3d.  That  the  attack  was  first  confined,  from  considerations  of  .policy,  to 
the  bank  of  the  United  States ;  but  that,  after  its  overthrow  was  accom 
plished,  it  was  then  directed,  and  had  since  been  continued,  against  the  state 
banks. 

4th.  That  the  present  administration,  by  its  acknowledgments,  emanating 
from  the  highest  and  most  authentic  source,  had  succeeded  to  the  principles, 
plans  and  policy  of  the  preceding  administration,  and  stood  solemnly  pledged 
to  complete  and  perfect  them.  And, 

5th.  That  the  bill  under  consideration  was  intended  to  execute  the  pledge, 
by  establishing,  upon  the  ruins  of  the  late  bank  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  state  banks,  a  government  bank,  to  be  managed  and  controlled  by  the 
treasury  department,  acting  under  the  commands  of  the  president  of  the 
United  States. 

The  manner  in  which  Mr.  Clay  proceeded  to  sustain  these 
charges  against  the  administration,  was  extremely  impressive. 
That  he  made  out  his  case  satisfactorily  to  the  people,  subsequent 
events  fully  demonstrated. 

Mr.  Clay  appears  to  have  addressed  the  senate  on  every  ques 
tion  of  moment  that  claimed  its  attention  during  the  session  of 
1 837-'38  ;  on  the  reception  of  petitions  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  district  of  Columbia  —  the  bill  to  restrain  the  issuing  of 
small  notes  in  the  district — the  disturbances  on  the  northern 
frontier,  and  the  attack  on  the  Caroline,  an  act  which  he  de 
nounced  in  the  most  unmeasured  terms  —  ;he  bill  to  grant  pre 
emption  rights  to  settlers  on  the  public  lands  —  the  bill  to  estab 
lish  the  Oregon  territory  —  in  favor  of  the  bill  to  prohibit  tho 
giving  or  accepting  a  challenge  to  fight  a  duel  in  the  district  of 
Columbia  —  against  the  bill  providing  for  the  graduation  and  re- 


OUTLINE  OF  A  NATIONAL  BANK.  191 

duction  of  the  price  of  the  public  lands — and  on  many  other 
subjects  of  hardly  inferior  interest. 

A  joint  resolution,  offered  by  him  on  the  30th  of  April,  pro 
viding  for  the   reception  of  the  notes  of   sound  banks  in  the 
collection  of  the  revenue,  was  adopted  by  the  senate,  with  some 
amendments,  the  29th  of  May.     It  was  in  effect  a  repeal  of  the 
pecie  circular. 

In  the  course  of  the  session,  Mr.  Clay  took  occasion,  in  pre-J 
senting  a  petition  for  the  establishment  of  a  United  States  bank, 
to  make  known  his  own  views  in  regard  to  such  an  institution. 
Some  of  the  conditions  and  restrictions  under  which  it  seemed 
to  him  suitable  to  establish  such  a  bank,  were  briefly  given  in  the 
following  sketch  :  — 

1.  The  capital  not  to  be  extravagantly  large,  but,  at  the  same  time,  am 
ply  sufficient  to  enable  it  to  perform  the  needful  financial  duties  for  the 
government ;  to  supply  a  general  currency  of  uniform  value  throughout  the 
Union ;  and  to  facilitate,  as  nigh  as  practicable,  the  equalization  of  domestic 
exchange.     He  supposed  that  about  fifty  millions  would  answer  all  those 
purposes.     The  stock  might  be  divided  between  the  general  government, 
the  states,  according  to  their  federal  population,  and  individual  subscribers; 
the  portion  assigned  to  the  latter  to  be  distributed  at  auction  or  by  private 
subscription. 

2.  The  corporation  to  receive  such  an  organization  as  to  blend,  in  fair 
proportions,  public  and  private  control,  and  combining  public  and  private 
interests ;  and,  in  order  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  the  exercise  of  any  for 
eign  influence,  non-resident  foreigners  to  be  prohibited  not  only  from  any 
share  in  the  administration  of  the  corporation,  but  from  holding,  directly  01 
indirectly,  any  portion  of  its  stock.     The  bank  would  thus  be  in  its  origin, 
and  continue  throughout  its  whole  existence,  a  genuine  American  institu 
tion. 

3.  An  adequate  portion  of  the  capital  to  be  set  apart  in  productive  stocks, 
and  placed  in  permanent  security,  beyond   the  reach  of  the  corporation 
(with  the  exception  of  the  accruing  profits  on  those  stocks)  sufficient  to  pay 
promptly,  in  any  contingency,  the  amount  of  all  such  paper,  under  what 
ever  form,  that  the  bank  shall  put  forth  as  a  part  of  the  general  circulation. 
The  bill  or  note  holders,  in  other  words,  the  mass  of  the  community,  ought 
to  be  protected  against  the  possibility  of  the  failure  or  the  suspension  of  the 
bank.     The  supply  of  the  circulating  medium  of  a  country  is  that  faculty  of 
a  bank,  the  propriety  of  the  exercise  of  which  may  be  most  controverted. 
The  dealings  with  a  bank  of  those  who  obtain  discounts,  or  make  deposites, 
are  voluntary  and  mutually  advantageous;  and  they  are  comparatively  few 
in  number.     But  the  reception  of  what  is  issued  and  used  as  a  part  of  the 
circulating  medium  of  the  country,  is  scarcely  a  voluntary  act;  and  thou 
sands  take  it  who  have  no  other  concern  whatever  with  the  bank.     The 
mann  ought  to  be  guarded  and  secured  by  the  care  of  the  legislative  au 
thority;  the  vigilance  of  the  few  will  secure  themselves  against  loss. 

4.  Perfect  publicity  as  to  the  state  of  the  bank  at  all  times,  including,  be 
sides  the  usual  heads  of  information,  the  names  of  every  debtor  to  the  bank, 


192  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

whether  as  drawer,  endorser,  or  surety,  periodically  exhibited,  and  open  to 
public  inspection;  or,  if  that  should  be  found  inconvenient,  the  right  to  be 
(secured  to  any  citizen  to  ascertain  at  the  bank  the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
responsibility  of  any  of  its  customers.  There  is  no  necessity  to  throw  any 
veil  of  secresy  around  the  ordinary  transactions  of  a  bank.  Publicity  will 
increase  responsibility,  repress  favoritism,  insure  the  negotiation  of  good 
paper,  and,  when  individual  insolvency  unfortunately  occurs,  will  deprive 
(he  bank  of  undue  advantages  now  enjoyed  by  banks  practically  in  the  dis 
tribution  of  the  effects  of  the  insolvent 

5.  A  limitation  of  the  dividends  so  as  not  to  authorize  more  than  —  per 
Sent,  to  be  struck.     This  will  check  undue  expansions  in  the  medium,  and 
•estrain  improper  extension  of  business  in  the  administration  of  the  bank. 

6.  A  prospective  reduction  in  the  rate  of  interest,  so  as  to  restrict  the 
Dank  to  six  per  cent,  simply,  or,  if  practicable,  to  only  five  per  cent.     The 
reduction  may  be  effected  by  forbearing  to  exact  any  bonus,  or,  when  the 
profits  are  likely  to  exceed  the  prescribed  limit  of  the  dividends,  by  requir 
ing  the  rates  of  interest  shall  be  so  lowered  as  that  they  shall  not  pass  that 
limit. 

7.  A  restriction  upon  the  premium  demanded  upon  post-notes  and  checks 
used  for  remittances,  so  that  the  maximum  should  not  be  more  than,  say  one 
and  a  half  per  cent,  between  any  two  of  the  remotest  points  in  the  Union. 
Although  it  may  not  be  practicable  to  regulate  foreign  exchange,  depending 
as  it  does  upon  commercial  causes  not  within  the  control  of  any  one  govern 
ment,  it  is  otherwise  with  regard  to  domestic  exchange. 

8.  Every  practicable  provision  against  the  exercise  of  improper  influence, 
on  the  part  of  the  executive,  upon  the  bank,  and,  on  the  part  of  the  bank, 
upon  the  elections  of  the  country.     The  people  entertain  a  just  jealousy 
against  the  danger  of  any  interference  of  a  bank  with  the  elections  of  a 
country,  and  every  precaution  ought  to  be  taken  strictly  to  guard  against  it. 

This  was  a  brief  outline  of  such  a  bank  as  Mr.  Clay  thought 
would,  if  established,  conduce  greatly  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
country.  Its  wise  and  provident  restrictions  would  seem  to  pre 
clude  all  those  popular  objections  which  generally  apply  to  banks. 
With  regard  to  the  constitutionality  of  a  national  bank,  Mr.  Clay 
said  that  forty  years  of  acquiescence  by  the  people  —  the  main 
tenance  of  the  power  by  Washington,  the  father  of  his  country  ; 
by  Madison,  the  father  of  the  constitution  ;  and  by  Marshall,  the 
father  of  the  judiciary,  ought  to  be  precedents  sufficient  in  its 
favor. 

The  abolition  question  was  agitated  in  the  senate  during  the  last 
session  of  the  25th  Congress.  Mr.  Clay  had  been  urged  by  many 
of  his  friends  to  refrain  from  speaking  on  the  subject.  It  was 
represented  to  him  as  impolitic,  superfluous,  and  likely  to  inter 
fere  with  his  presidential  prospects.  Such  arguments  could  have 
no  weight  with  him. 

His  whole  course  upon  this  perilous  question,  has  been  that  of 


VISIT    TO    THE    NORTH.  193 

lb«s  Lonest,  upright,  practical,  and  consistent  statesman,  the  true 
philanthropist,  the  sagacious  and  devoted  patriot.  When  Mr. 
Oathoun  introduced,  in  the  session  of  1835-36,  his  bill  to  give 
postmasters  and  the.'r  deputies  a  power  of  inspection  and  espionage 
over  the  mails — the  bill  which  was  passed  to  its  third  reading  by 
the  casting  vote  of  Martin  Van  Buren — it  met  with  the  prompt 
and  decided  condemnation  of  Mr.  Clay.  No  man  has  more 
vigilantly  watched  the  sacred  right  of  petition  than  Mr.  Clay. 
He  has  condemned,  on  all  occasions,  the  refusal  of  the  senate  to 
receive  petitions.  His  speech  of  February,  1839,  yields  to  the 
abolitionists  all  that  they  have  a  right  to  demand,  and  is  at  the 
same  time  so  liberal  in  its  doctrines,  as  to  disarm  the  ultraism  of 
southern  hostility.  Mr.  Calhoun  himself  was  compelled  to  admit 
his  acquiescence  in  the  soundness  of  its  doctrines,  and  the  secu 
rity  which  their  adoption  would  promise  to  the  Union.  The 
enemies  of  Mr.  Clay  denounced  this  movement  on  the  abolition 
question  as  an  effort  +o  achieve  popularity.  They  reasoned  from 
the  inevitable  resuU,  to  an  unworthy  inducement.  To  impute  un 
worthy  motives  to  Mi.  CUy  because  of  such  a  result,  was  to 
impeach  the  purity  of  al!  public  action,  and  to  confine  the  states 
man,  who  would  preserve  his  political  reputation,  to  the  advocacy 
of  unwise  and  unpopular  measures.  Popularity  did  follow  the 
promulgation  of  such  sentiments  as  are  contained  in  the  speech 
of  Mr.  Clay — the  popularity  which  all  good  men  desire — the 
popularity  of  which  all  great  men  may  be  proud — the  popularity 
based  upon  gratitude  for  distinguished  service,  admiration  for  com 
manding  eloquence,  and  the  eternal  sympathies  of  the  PEOPLE 
with  the  PATRIOT. 

In  the  summer  of  1839,  Mr.  Clay  visited  Buffalo,  and  passing 
into  Canada,  made  an  excursion  to  Montreal  and  Quebec.  Re 
turning,  he  visited  the  city  of  New  York.  He  had  the  previous 
summer  been  invited,  at  an  enthusiastic  meeting  of  his  friends  at 
Masonic  hall,  to  visit  the  city,  but  had  then  been  unable  to  com 
ply  with  their  invitation.  His  reception,  at  the  period  to  which 
we  now  refer,  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  ever  extended  to  a 
public  man.  Early  in  the  afternoon,  he  was  landed  at  the  foot  of 
Hammond  street,  Greenwich,  from  the  steamboat  James  Madi 
son,  attended  by  a  large  number  of  citizens.  An  immense  multi- 
I  13 


194  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAi. 

tude  was  assembled  to  greet  his  arrival,  and,  as  he  stepped  on  the 
wharf,  the  air  was  rent  with  acclamations  from  a  myriad  of  voices. 
The  day  was  most  propitious.  At  Greenwich,  a  procession  was 
formed,  headed  by  marshals,  after  whom  came  a  numerous  caval 
cade.  A  band  of  music  preceded  the  open  barouche  of  Mr.  Clay 
and  a  vast  concourse  of  citizens  followed  in  carriages.  Every 
thing  in  the  city,  in  the  shape  of  a  four-wheeled  vehicle,  was  in 
attendance,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  citizens  followed  on  foot. 
When  the  head  of  the  procession  reached  the  Astor  house,  the 
rear  had  not  yet  formed  in  line.  Through  the  whole  extent  from 
the  point  of  landing,  through  Hudson  street,  up  Fourteenth  street 
to  Union  place,  and  down  Broadway  to  the  park,  a  distance  of 
nearly  four  miles,  it  was  at  one  and  the  same  time  a  dense 
moving  mass  of  horsemen,  carriages,  carmen,  and  citizens. 
Every  window  on  either  side  of  the  way  was  occupied,  and  ac 
clamations  from  every  house,  and  the  waving  of  handkerchiefs, 
and  cordial  salutations,  greeted  the  illustrious  statesman  as  he 
passed.  At  Constitution  hall,  at  Masonic  hall,  and  at  every  place 
of  public  resort  and  amusement,  flags  were  displayed,  and  bands 
of  music  were  stationed  to  hail  his  approach. 

As  he  reached  the  park,  the  tens  of  thousands  who  thronged 
the  grounds,  the  windows,  and  roofs  of  the  surrounding  edifices, 
the  adjacent  streets,  and  the  large  open  space  at  the  junction  of 
Chatham  street  and  Broadway,  thundered  out  the  mighty  welcome 
of  a  grateful  people  to  the  gallant,  generous,  warm-hearted,  and 
noble-minded  citizen,  whose  life  had  been  devoted  to  their 
service. 

The  reception  was  purely  a  civic  one.  It  was  not  a  got-up, 
official  pageant,  where  the  populace  exhibit  their  gratitude  by  an 
invitation  of  the  common  council,  and  display  a  certain  amount 
of  enthusiasm  duly  provided  for  by  the  resolves  and  ordinances 
of  the  corporation.  It  was  the  voluntary,  unbought,  unbidden, 
movement  of  the  people,  to  greet  the  arrival  among  them  of  one, 
who  had  ever  been  eminently  the  MAN  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 


APPROACHING    PRESIDENTIAL    ELECTION.  195 

XVII. 
THE    HARRISBURG    CONVENTION 

• 

As  the  period  of  another  presidential  election  drew  near,  tha, 
vast  portion  of  the  democracy  of  the  land,  opposed  to  the  admin 
istration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  began  to  turn  their  eyes  toward  the 
most  able,  renowned  and  consistent  of  their  leaders,  Henry  Clay, 
as  a  fitting  candidate  for  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  United 
States.  The  champion  of  the  people,  their  interests,  and  their 
honor,  during  the  last  war — the  preserver  of  the  Union  on  two 
momentous  occasions,  when  it  was  threatened  with  dissolution 
and  civil  war ;  the  founder  and  vigilant  protector  of  the  Ameri 
can  system  ;  the  friend  of  internal  improvements  ;  the  intelligent 
advocate  of  a  sound,  uniform,  republican  currency,  and  of  a  judi 
cious  tariff;  the  experienced  statesman,  who,  at  Ghent,  and  in 
the  department  of  state,  had  displayed  the  highest  order  of  talents 
in  the  service  of  his  country ;  the  active  foe  of  executive  usurpa 
tion  ;  the  chivalrous  defender  of  the  constitution  and  the  laws, 
who,  in  his  public  career,  had  ever  manifested  his  obedience  to 
the  principle  that  THE  WILL  OF  THE  PEOPLE,  faithfully  expressed, 
should  give  law ;  the  vindicator  of  human  liberty  throughout  the 
world — WHO  could  present  claims  so  numerous,  so  powerful,  so 
overwhelming,  upon  the  gratitude,  confidence,  and  suffrages  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  ? 

The  fact  of  his  having  been  in  two  instances  an  unsuccessful 
candidate  for  the  presidency,  was  the  only  objection  worthy  of 
.notice,  which  was  brought  forward  by  those  who,  while  they 
professed  to  admit  his  claims,  and  to  accord  with  him  in  his 
political  creed,  were  doubtful  of  the  expediency  of  his  nomination. 
But  what  were  the  facts  in  regard  to  those  two  instances  ?  In 
the  election  of  1824,  he  failed  in  being  elected  by  the  primary 
colleges,  in  company  with  John  Quincy  Adams,  Andrew  Jackson, 
and  William  H.  Crawford.  So  that  the  argument  in  this  case 
would  have  been  as  valid  against  any  one  of  these  candidates  as 
it  can  be  against  Mr.  Clay.  He  was  excluded  from  being  one 
of  the  three  highest  candidates,  who  were  returned  to  the  housa 


196  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

on  this  occasion,  by  being  unfairly  deprived  of  electoral  votes  in 
New  York  and  Louisiana.  It  was,  moreover,  well  known  that, 
if  the  election  were  carried  to  the  house,  Mr.  Clay  would,  as  the 
natural  result  of  his  great  popularity,  be  elected.  The  friends 
of  all  the  other  candidates,  consequently,  had  a  united  interest  in 
excluding  him. 

With  regard  to  the  contest  of  1832,  the  re-election  of  General 
Jackson  at  that  time  could  not  be  construed  into  an  indication  of 
popular  feeling  toward  Mr.  Clay.  The  "  hero  of  New-Orleans," 
had,  during  his  first  term,  just  entered  upon  his  novel  experi 
ments  in  the  currency  ;  and  a  great  part  of  the  people  were  dis 
posed  to  give  them  a  fair  trial,  and  afford  him  an  opportunity  to 
carry  out  the  policy  he  had  commenced.  The  patronage  of  the 
executive  was  directed,  to  an  extent  wholly  unparalleled,  toward 
the  continuance  of  the  sceptre  in  his  hands.  Nullification  had 
begun  to  show  its  menacing  face,  and  there  were  many,  even 
among  those  who  were  hostile  to  the  general  policy  of  the  ad 
ministration,  and  friendly  to  Mr.  Clay,  who  yet  unwisely  thought 
that  strenuous  measures  toward  South  Carolina  would  be  re 
quired,  and  that  the  Union  would  be  safest  under  the  direction 
of  a  military  chief  magistrate. 

In  addition  to  these  circumstances,  the  party  opposed  to  Gen 
eral  Jackson  was  distracted  by  anti-masonry,  which  presented  an 
excellent  and  popular  candidate  for  president  in  William  Wirt. 

These  two  elections  are  all  in  which  Mr.  Clay  has  been  a  candi 
date  for  the  presidency,  and  in  neither  did  he  have  a  fair  field. 
He  had  been  nearly  twenty  times  a  candidate  for  the  suffrages 
of  the  people,  and  only  on  these  two  occasions  defeated.  Mr. 
Van  Buren,  with  a  clear  field  and  the  whole  patronage  of  the 
government  in  his  own  hands,  failed  in  the  election  of  1840. 

The  democratic  whig  convention  for  the  nomination  of  a  pres 
idential  candidate,  met  at  Harrisburgh,  on  the  4th  of  December, 
1839.  A  decided  plurality  of  the  delegates  who  attended,  were 
in  favor  of  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Clay,  but  a  larger  number  were 
divided  in  their  preferences  between  General  William  Henry 
Harrison,  who  had  been  the  candidate  of  the  northern  whigs  in 
the  previous  canvass,  and  General  Winfield  Scott,  whose  name 
was  now  for  the  first  time  presented.  Yet  all,  or  nearly  all, 


NOMINATION    OF    GENERAL    HARRISON.  197 

fully  admitted  Mr.  Clay's  pre-eminent  fitness  and  worth ;  they 
opposed  his  nomination  avowedly  on  the  ground  that  he  could 
not  probably  be  elected,  while  another  could  be.  Very  many 
of  these  bitterly  regretted,  after  the  country  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  John  Tyler,  that  they  had  not  taken  the  risk,  if  risk 
there  were,  of  nominating  the  great  Kentuckian. 

The  convention  was  organized  on  the  5th  December,  by  the 
appointment  of  Hon.  James  Barbour  as  president,  with  thirteen 
vice-presidents  and  four  secretaries.  A  committee  of  one  from 
each  state  represented,  was  appointed  to  collect  the  votes  of  the 
several  delegations  and  report  the  nomination  of  a  candidate,  and, 
after  a  session  of  nearly  two  days,  it  reported  in  favor  of  William 
Henry  Harrison.  The  friends  of  Mr.  Clay — those -who  had 
adhered  to  him  to  the  last — disappointed  as  they  were  in  this 
unlooked-for  result,  were  too  well  aware  of  the  generous  senti 
ments  of  their  candidate,  not  to  acquiesce  in  it  cheerfully  and 
with  a  good  grace.  At  the  meeting  of  the  convention,  on  the  9th 
of  December,  Mr.  Banks  of  Kentucky  was  the  first  to  rise  and 
announce  the  hearty  concurrence  of  the  delegation  from  that 
state  in  the  nomination  indicated  by  the  informal  ballot  announced 
by  the  committee.  Mr.  Preston,  from  the  same  state,  followed 
in  the  same  strain,  and  asked  that  a  letter  from  Mr.  Clay,  which 
had  for  several  days  been  in  possession  of  a  delegate,  but  which 
had  not  been  shown,  lest  it  should  seem  intended  to  be  used  to 
excite  sympthy  for  Mr.  Clay,  should  now  be  read.  Permission 
being  unanimously  given,  the  letter  was  read  by  General  Leslie 
Combs  of  Kentucky. 

In  this  letter  Mr.  Clay  says  :  "  With  a  just  and  proper  sense 
of  the  high  honor  of  being  voluntarily  called  to  the  office  of  pres 
ident  of  the  United  States  by  a  great,  free,  and  enlightened  peo 
ple,  and  profoundly  grateful  to  those  of  my  fellow-citizens  who 
are  desirous  to  see  me  placed  in  that  exalted  and  responsible 
station,  I  must  nevertheless  say  in  entire  truth  and  sincerity,  that 
if  the  deliberations  of  the  convention  shall  lead  them  to  the  choice 
of  another  as  the  candidate  of  the  opposition,  far  from  feeling  any 
discontent,  the  nomination  will  have  my  best  wishes  and  receive  my 
cordial  support"  He  then  calls  upon  his  friends  from  Kentucky, 
discarding  all  attachments  or  partiality  for  himself,  and  guided 


198  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CL1Y. 

solely  by  the  motive  of  rescuing  our  country  from  the  dangers 
which  environed  it,  to  heartily  unite  in  the  selection  of  that  citi 
zen,  although  it  should  not  be  Henry  Clay,  who  might  appear  the 
most  likely  by  his  election  to  bring  about  a  salutary  change  in 
the  administration. 

The  reading  of  this  letter  excited  great  emotion  in  the  conven 
tion.  It  was  the  saying  of  a  patriot  of  antiquity,  that  he  would 
rather  have  it  asked  by  posterity  why  a  monument  was  not  erected 
to  him  than  why  it  was.  A  similar  spirit  would  seem  to  actuate 
Mr.  Clay  ;  for  never  has  he  been  known  to  manifest  any  personal 
disappointment  at  the  failure  or  betrayal  of  his  presidential  pros- 
r>ects. 

Governor  Barbour,  of  Virginia,  after  expressing  his  concur 
rence  in  the  will  of  the  convention,  said  he  had  known  Mr.  Clay 
for  thirty  years,  and  had  been  intimately  associated  with  him  in 
public  and  private  life,  and  that  a  more  devoted  patriot  or  purer 
statesman  never  breathed.  In  the  course  of  that  thirty  years  he 
had  nevor  heard  him  utter  one  sentiment  unworthy  this  character. 
There  was  no  place  in  his  heart  for  one  petty  or  selfish  emotion. 

Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh  anticipated  the  concurrence  of  Vir 
ginia  in  the  nomination.  He  had  felt  it  his  duty  to  support  his 
more  intimate  and  endeared  friend,  Henry  Clay,  but  he  acknowl 
edged  the  worth  of  General  Harrison.  He  had  supported  the 
former  to  the  last  from  the  firmest  conviction  that  no  other  man 
was  so  fitted  to  the  crisis  —  so  transcendently  qualified  for  the 
highest  office  in  the  gift  of  the  American  people  —  as  Henry  Clay. 
He  never  thought  that  Mr.  Clay  needed  the  office,  but  the  coun 
try  needed  him.  That  office  could  confer  no  dignity  or  honor 
on  Henry  Clay.  The  measure  of  his  fame  was  full ;  and  when 
ever  the  tomb  should  close  over  him  it  would  cover  the  loftiest 
intellect  and  the  noblest  heart  that  this  age  had  produced  car 
known. 

The  venerable  Peter  R.  Livingston,  of  New  York,  an  able  and 
ardent  supporter  of  Mr.  Clay,  said  in  regard  to  him — "  I  envy 
Kentucky,  for  when  he  dies,  she  will  have  his  ashes !" 

A  candidate  for  the  vice-presidency  remained  to  be  nominated 
by  the  convention.  He  was  found  in  the  person  of  John  Tyler, 
of  Virginia.  By  what  unfortunate  chance  this  selection 


JOHN    TYLER.  199 

made,  it  is  unnecessary  now  to  inquire.  It  must  be  said  in  ex 
culpation  of  those,  however,  who  acquiesced  in  it,  that  there  was 
no  good  reason  for  doubting  Mr.  Tyler's  political  fidelity  and 
attachment  to  Whig  principles.  On  all  the  great  questions  of 
public  policy  he  was  considered  as  pledged  to  the  support  of 
those  measures  for  which  the  whig  party  had  been  battling  du 
ring  the  last  ten  years.  On  the  subject  of  the  public  lands,  he 
had,  as  a  member  of  the  Virginia  legislature,  in  1839,  declared 
himself,  both  in  a  report  and  a  speech,  an  advocate  of  the  meas 
ure  of  distribution.  In  a  speech  before  the  United  States  sen 
ate,  he  had  condemned,  in  unequivocal  terms,  the  abuse  of  the 
veto  power.  He  went  to  Harrisburg,  as  he  himself  has  said,  in 
favor  of  Henry  Clay — he  voted  for  him  in  his  own  delegation  up 
to  the  seventh  and  last  ballot  —  and,  if  his  own  words  are  to  be 
believed,  he  was  affected  even  to  tears,  when  the  nomination  was 
given  by  the  convention  to  another.  Surely,  it  can  not  be  said 
that  he  might  have  been  in  favor  Mr.  Clay's  nomination  to  the 
presidency,  and  yet  opposed  to  the  most  important  public  meas- 
sures  to  which  that  distinguished  statesman  had  ever  rendered 
his  support. 

On  the  question  of  a  bank,  it  was,  with  reason,  believed  that 
Mr.  Tyler's  views  were  similar  to  those  maintained  by  the  great 
Whig  party  of  the  country.  While  a  member  of  the  convention 
at  Harrisburg,  he  had  made  to  Governor  Owen,  of  North  Caro 
lina,  chairman  of  the  committee,  through  whom  all  nominations 
must  reach  the  convention,  the  following  communication  : — * 

"That  his  views  on  the  bank  question  had  undergone  an  entire  change, 
that  he  believed  the  establishment  of  a  national  bank  to  be  alike  indispen 
sable  as  a  fiscal  agent  of  the  government,  and  to  the  restoration  of  the  cur 
rency  and  exchanges  of  the  country;  and  he  thought  that  all  constitutional 
objections  ougnt  to  yield  to  the  various  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial 
decisions  of  the  question." 

In  addition  to  all  these  circumstances,  the  simple  fact  of  Mr 
Tyler's  presence  in  the  convention — of  his  silent  approval  of  all 
those  important  measures  which  were  regarded  as  consequent 
upon  the  election  of  a  whig  president — was,  in  the  minds  of 
honorable  men,  equivalent  to  a  pledge  that  those  measures  would, 
in  any  event,  continue  to  meet  his  ready  and  earnest  support. 

*  See  the  address  of  the  delegates  from  Maryland,  in  the  Harrisburg  convention,  to  their 
constituent*  These  facts  will  be  found  eloquently  set  forth  in  that  able  paper. 


200  LIFE  OF  HENRY  CLAY. 

Under  the  influence  of  considerations  like  these,  the  conven 
tion  unanimously  nominated  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  for  the  vice^ 
presidency  ;  and,  having  taken  this  step,  adjourned. 

A  deep  disappointment  was  felt  throughout  the  Whig  ranks  at 
the  failure  of  the  convention  to  nominate  Mr.  Clay  for  the  presi 
dency  ;  but  the  magnanimous  sentiments  expressed  in  his  letter, 
read  at  the  convention,  soon  began  to  animate  his  friends  ;  and 
they  manifested  their  devotion  to  principles  rather  than  to  men, 
by  rallying  vigorously  in  support  of  the  selected  candidates. 

With  regard  to  John  Tyler,  he  was  very  imperfectly  known 
out  of  Virginia  ;  and  if  little  could  be  said  in  his  favor,  still  less 
could  be  said  to  his  prejudice.  The  office  of  vice-president  was 
generally  regarded  as  one  of  comparatively  slight  consequence  ; 
and  there  seemed  to  be  an  utter  absence  of  all  apprehension  of 
the  contingency,  by  which  its  importance  was  so  fearfully  mag 
nified.  Future  conventions  will  never  forget  the  lesson  which 
Mr.  Tyler  has  given  to  his  countrymen  and  their  posterity. 


XVIII. 

THE    CAMPAIGN    OF    1840. 

MR.  CLAY'S  efforts  in  the  democratic  whig  cause  appear  not 
to  have  been  less  ardent,  incessant,  and  faithful,  during  the  con 
gressional  session  of  1839-'40,  than  at  any  previous  period  of 
his  career.  The  just  expectations  of  his  friends  had  been 
thwarted  at  Harrisburg ;  but  that  circumstance  did  not  seem 
either  to  effect  his  spirits,  or  to  damp  the  ardor  of  his  opposition 
to  that  policy  which  he  believed  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of 
his  country.  He  acquiesced  promptly /heartily,  and  nobly,  in 
the  nomination  of  General  Harrison,  and  did  not  manifest,  on 
any  occasion,  a  lurking  feeling  of  disappointment.  He  took  an 
early  occasion  in  the  senate  to  reiterate  the  sentiments  expressed 
in  his  letter,  read  at  the  convention ;  and  he  showed  himself 
prepared  to  do  vigorous  battle  in  behalf  of  the  principles  which 
he  and  his  associates  had  been  struggling,  for  the  last  twelve 
years,  to  maintain-  . 


RELATIONS    WITH    MR.    CALHOUN.  201 

In  the  senate,  on  the  3d  of  January,  1840,  Mr.  Southard  moved 
the  reconsideration  of  an  order  of  reference  of  Mr.  Calhoun's 
land  bill  to  the  committee  on  public  lands.  The  proposition  gave 
rise  to  a  passage  between  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Mr.  Clay,  in  which 
severe  language  was  employed  on  both  sides.  Allusions  being 
made  to  their  respective  political  careers  at  the  time  of  the  force 
bill  and  the  compromise  act,  Mr.  Calhoun  said  that  the  gentleman 
from  Kentucky  was  flat  on  his  back  at  that  time,  and  was  com 
pelled  to  the  compromise  —  and  that  he  (Mr.  Calhoun)  was  then 
his  master. 

In  reply,  Mr.  Clay,  in  the  ardor  of  his  feelings,  remarked  : — 
"  The  gentleman  has  said  that  I  was  flat  on  my  back — that  he 
was  my  master  on  that  occasion.  He  my  master  I  Sir,  I  would 
not  own  him  for  my  slave  !"* 

The  principal  questions  on  which  he  spoke  during  the  session 
were :  on  the  abolition  of  slavery  ;  on  the  bankrupt  bill ;  the 
Maine  boundary  line  ;  Mr.  Calhoun's  bill  to  cede  the  public 
lands  to  the  states  in  which  they  lie  ;  the  navy  appropriation 
bill ;  the  independent  treasury  bill ;  the  branch  mints  ;  the  ex 
penditures  of  government ;  the  Cumberland  road  ;  repeal  of  the 
salt  tax  ;  and  the  bankrupt  bill.  His  opinions  on  nearly  all  these 
subjects  are  so  well-known  as  to  render  a  recapitulation  unne 
cessary. 

Notwithstanding  the  indications  of  public  hostility,  and  "  in 
spite  of  the  lamentations"  in  Congress  "  and  elsewhere,"  Mr. 
Van  Buren  and  his  friends  continued  to  press  their  odious  sub- 
treasury  project,  now  newly  christened  under  the  name  of  the 
"  independent  treasury  bill."  Against  this  measure  Mr.  Clay 
battled  with  undiminished  vigor  and  zeal.  On  the  20th  of  Janu 
ary,  1 840,  he  addressed  the  senate  in  one  of  his  most  spirited 
speeches,  in  opposition  to  the  bill,  which  he  truly  designated  as 

*  Mr.  Clay  is  not  the  man  to  harbor  the  harsh  feelings  sometimes  engendered  in  animated 
debate.  After  his  farewell  speech,  on  resigning  his  seat  in  the  senate,  as  he  was  about  to 
leave  the  chamber,  he  encountered  Mr.  Calhoun.  They  had  not  spoken  to  each  other  for 
five  years  ;  but  they  now  simultaneously  extended  their  hands,  and  cordially  greeted  each 
other,  while  the  tears  sprang  to  their  eyes.  They  had  almost  spent  their  lives  together  in 
Congress  ;  and  during  the  war,  and  at  various  tunes  subsequently  had  stood  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  animated  by  the  same  patriotic  impulses  and  aspirations.  Time  had  passed  over 
both,  and  the  young  men  had  become  old.  For  a  minute  or  more,  they  could  not  speak,  so 
overcome  were  both  with  emotion.  At  length  Mr.  Clay  said,  on  parting,  "  Give  my  best 
regards  to  Mrs.  Calhoun,"  and  they  bade  each  other  farewell 


202  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

a  government  bank  in  disguise,  demonstrating  the  assertion  by 
proofs  the  most  convincing. 

"A  government  bank,"  said  Mr.  Clay,  "may  not  suddenly  burst  upon  us, 
but  there  it  is  embodied  in  this  bill.  Let  the  re-election  of  the  present  chief 
magistrate  be  secured,  and  you  will  soon  see  the  bank  disclosing  its  genuine 
character.  But,  thanks  be  to  God !  there  is  a  day  of  reckoning  at  hand. 
All  the  signs  of  the  times  clearly  indicate  its  approach.  And  on  the  4th  day 
of  March,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1841,  I  trust  that  the  long  account  of  the 
abuses  and  corruptions  of  this  administration,  in  which  this  measure  will  be 
a  conspicuous  item,  will  be  finally  and  for  ever  adjusted." 

He  introduced,  on  this  occasion,  a  bill  for  the  repeal  of  the 
sub-treasury  system,  but  it  was  not  acted  upon  until  the  will  of 
the  people  was  so  peremptorily  spoken,  that  longer  resistance  to 
it,  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  his  friends,  was  impossi 
ble. 

During  the  summer  of  1840,  Mr.  Clay,  visited  his  native  coun 
ty  of  Hanover,  and  was  everywhere  hailed  with  enthusiasm  and 
reverence.  At  a  public  dinner  given  to  him  at  Taylorsville, 
June  27th,  1840,  he  addressed  a  vast  assemblage  of  his  friends 
in  a  speech,  which  may  be  referred  to  as  a  text-book  of  his  po 
litical  faith.  It  is  probably  in  the  hands  of  too  many  of  our 
readers  to  render  an  abstract  of  it  useful  in  this  place.  Although 
his  opinions  on  all  public  questions  of  importance  have  been 
always  frankly  avowed,  he  defines  his  position  in  this  speech 
with  unusual  minuteness  and  precision.  With  a  view  to  the 
fundamental  character  of  the  government  itself,  and  especially 
of  the  executive  branch,  he  maintains  that  there  should  be  — 
either  by  amendments  of  the  constitution,  when  they  were  neces 
sary,  or  by  remedial  legislation,  when  the  object  fell  within  the 
scope  of  the  powers  of  Congress  : — 

1st.  A  provision  to  render  a  person  ineligible  to  the  office  of  president  of 
the  United  States  after  a  service  of  one  term. 

2d.  That  the  veto  power  should  be  more  precisely  defined,  and  be  sub 
jected  to  further  limitations  and  qualifications. 

3d.  That  the  power  of  dismission  from  office  should  be  restricted,  and  the 
exercise  of  it  rendered  responsible. 

4th.  That  the  control  over  the  treasury  of  the  United  States  should  be 
confided,  and  confined  exclusively,  to  Congress;  and  all  authority  of  the 
president  over  it,  by  means  of  dismissing  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  or 
other  persons  having  the  immediate  charge  of  it.  be  rigorously  precluded. 

5th.  That  the  appointment  of  any  members  of  Congress  to  any  office,  or 
any  but  a  few  specific  offices,  during  their  continuance  in  office,  and  fo*  ona 
year  thereafter,  be  prohibited. 


ELECTION    OF    GENERAL    HARRISOX.  203 

Mr.  Clay  was  among  the  most  active  of  those  who  took  part 
in  the  campaign  of  1 840  which  terminated  in  the  complete  triumph 
of  the  whigs.  On  the  17th  of  August,  1840,  he  addressed  the 
Harrison  convention  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  in  an  interesting 
and  eloquent  speech.  In  allusion  to  the  professions  of  the  Van 
Buren  party  to  be  democrats  par  excellence,  he  very  happily  said : 
"  Of  all  their  usurpations,  I  know  of  none  more  absurd  than 
the  usurpation  of  this  name." 

"  I  WAS  BORN  A  DEMOCRAT,"  said  he,  subsequently  in  a  speech 
delivered  in  Indiana  —  "rocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  Revolution 
—  and  at  the  darkest  period  of  that  ever-memorable  struggle 
for  freedom.  I  recollect,  in  178]  or  1782,  a  visit  made  by 
Tarleton's  troops  to  the  house  of  my  mother,  and  of  their  running 
their  swords  into  the  new-made  graves  of  my  father  and  grandfather, 
thinking  they  contained  hidden  treasures.  Though  then  not  more 
than  four  or  five  years  of  age,  the'  circumstance  of  that  visit  is 
vividly  remembered,  and  it  will  be  to  the  last  moment  of  my  life. 
I  was  born  a  democrat — was  raised  and  nurtured  a  republican — 
and  shall  die  a  republican  in  the  faith  and  principles  of  my 
fathers." 


XIX. 

THE     XXVIITH    CONGRESS TYLERISM. 

THE  election  of  General  Harrison  to  the  presidency  in  the 
autumn  of  1840,  by  an  immense  majority,  was  hailed  by  the 
whigs  as  the  triumphant  consummation  of  their  long  and  arduous 
twelve  years'  struggle  against  the  destructive  principles  and 
measures  which  had  prevailed  during  the  ascendency  of  Jackson 
and  Van  Buren.  A  majority  of  the  people  had  at  length  passed 
their  solemn  verdict  against  those  measures,  and  in  favor  of  the 
legislation  for  which  Mr.  Clay  and  the  whigs  in  Congress  had 
been  so  unanimously  contending.  Before  commencing  his  jour 
ney  to  the  seat  of  government,  General  Harrison  visited  Mr. 
Clay,  and  personally  tendered  him  any  office  in  the  president's 
gift.  Mr.  Clay  respectfully  declined  all  invitations  of  this  kind, 


204  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

and  announced  his  intention  of  retiring  from  the  senate  as  soon 
as  the  objects  for  which  he  and  his  friends  had  been  laboring  so 
strenuously,  were  placed  in  a  train  of  accomplishment. 

The  session  of  Congress  preceding  the  new  president's  instal 
lation,  found  Mr.  Clay  at  his  post,  still  prompt  and  active  in  the 
service  of  his  country.  On  the  land  bill — the  repeal  of  the  sub- 
treasury —  the  bill  to  establish  a  uniform  system  of  bankruptcy  — 
the  treasury-note  bill  —  the  pre-emption  and  distribution  project 
—  and  other  important  questions,  on  which  his  views  are  familiar 
to  our  readers,  he  addressed  the  senate  with  his  accustomed  elo 
quence  and  energy.  In  his  speech  of  the  28th  of  January,  1841, 
on  the  land  bill,  he  entered  into  an  able  vindication  of  whig 
principles  and  measures,  as  contrasted  with  those  of  the  expiring 
administration.  There  being  still  a  Van  Buren  majority,  Mr. 
Clay's  resolutions,  repealing  the  sub-treasury,  after  affording  oc 
casion  for  some  eloquent  debates,  were  laid  on  the  table,  the  19th 
of  February.  Some  remarks  being  made  in  the  senate  by  Mr. 
Cuthbert,  toward  the  close  of  the  session,  of  a  character  preju 
dicial  to  Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Clay  eloquently  vindicated  that  dis 
tinguished  senator,  and  bore  testimony  to  his  exalted  merits. 

The  second  session  of  the  26th  Congress  terminated  on  the 
night  of  the  3d  of  »March —  the  Van  Buren  men  having  refused 
to  pass  a  bankrupt  bill,  and  other  important  measures.  The  day 
after  the  adjournment,  General  Harrison  was  inaugurated  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States  ;  and,  on  the  18th  of  March,  he  issued 
his  proclamation  for  an  extra  session  of  Congress,  to  commence 
on  the  last  Monday  in  May.  Before  that  period  arrived,  and  pre 
cisely  a  month  after  his  inauguration,  the  venerable  president  de 
parted  this  life  ;  and,  by  a  provision  of  the  constitution,  John 
Tyler  of  Virginia,  the  vice-president,  was  invested  with  the 
authority  of  president  of  the  United  States. 

The  extraordinary  session  of  Congress,  convened  by  the  proc 
lamation  of  the  lamented  Harrison,  took  place  at  the  appointed 
time,  the  last  Monday  in  May,  1841.  Never  was  there  a  body 
of  representatives  who  came  together  with  a  more  patriotic  and 
honorable  desire  faithfully  to  execute  the  will  of  their  constituents 
the  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  than  the  whigs, 
who  composed  the  27th  Congress.  Mr.  Clay  at  once  took  active 


205 

and  decided  measures  for  the  prompt  despatch  of  the  public  busi 
ness.  The  subjects  which  he  proposed  to  the  senate,  as  proper 
exclusively  to  engage  their  deliberations  during  the  extra  session, 
were  :  — 

1st.  The  repeal  of  the  sub-treasury  law. 

2d.  The  incorporation  of  a  bank  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  people  and 
the  government. 

3d.  The  provision  of  an  adequate  revenue  by  the  imposition  of  duties,  and 
including  an  authority  to  contract  a  temporary  loan  to  cover  the  public  debt 
created  by  the  last  administration. 

4th.  The  prospective  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands. 

5th.  The  passage  of  necessary  appropriation  bills. 

6th.  Some  modifications  in  the  banking  system  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  the  district. 

In  the  formation  of  committees,  Mr.  Clay  was  placed  at  the 
head  of  that  on  finance  ;  and,  on  his  motion,  a  select  committee 
on  the  currency,  for  the  consideration  of  the  bank  question,  was 
appointed.  Of  this  committee  he  was  made  chairman.  Early 
in  June,  he  presented  his  admirable  report  of  a  plan  for  a  national 
bank  ;  and,  after  a  thorough  discussion,  the  bill  was  passed,  which, 
on  the  1 6th  of  August,  called  forth  a  veto  from  President  Tyler. 
On  the  19th  of  the  same  month,  Mr.  Clay  addressed  the  senate 
on  the  subject  of  this  veto.  His  remarks,  although  apparently 
made  "  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger,"  are  pervaded  by  the  spirit 
of  unanswerable  truth  ;  and,  in  his  rejoinder  to  Mr.  Rives,  on  the 
same  day,  he  rises  to  a  height  of  eloquence  never  surpassed  on 
the  floor  of  Congress.  In  the  opinion  of  many  of  his  hearers,  it 
was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  speeches  of  his  whole  senatorial 
career.  On  this  occasion,  he  showed,  by  irresistible  proofs,  that 
the  question  of  a  bank  was  the  great  issue  made  before  the  peo 
ple  at  the  late  election.  "  Wherever  I  was,"  said  he  — "  in  the 
great  valley  of  the  Mississippi  —  in  Kentucky — in  Tennessee  — 
in  Maryland — in  all  the  circles  in  which  I  moved,  everywhere, 
bank  or  no  bank  was  the  great,  the  leading,  the  vital  question." 

Not  long  after  the  veto,  as  Mr.  Clay,  with  two  or  three  friends, 
was  passing  the  treasury  buildings,  along  the  road  leading  to 
Pennsylvania  avenue,  he  noticed  a  procession  of  gentlemen,  walk 
ing  two  by  two,  toward  the  White  House.  "  In  the  name  of 
wonder,  what  have  W3  here  ?"  exclaimed  Mr.  Clay,  whil^  his 
features  lighted  up  witl  one  of  those  mischievous  smiles,  which 


206  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

are  so  contagious,  seen  on  his  countenance.  It  was  a  procession 
of  the  T  in  Buren  members  of  Congress,  going  personally  to  con 
gratulate  John  Tyler  on  his  veto  ! 

The  incident  was  not  forgotten  by  Mr.  Clay.  The  scene  was 
too  rich  and  piquant  to  pass  unnoticed.  On  the  2d  of  September, 
a  suitable  opportunity  presented  itself  in  the  senate,  for  a  com 
mentary  on  the  occurrence  ;  and  he  availed  himself  of  it  in  a 
manner  which  entirely  overcame  the  gravity  of  all  parties  present. 
He  gave  an  imaginary  description  of  the  scene  at  the  White 
House,  and  the  congratulations  lavished  upon  the  president  by  his 
new  friends.  He  pictured  to  the  senate  the  honorable  member 
from  Pennsylvania  (Mr.  Buchanan)  approaching  the  throne,  and 
contributing  his  words  of  encouragement  and  praise  to  those 
which  had  been  offered  by  the  rest.  The  imaginary  speech 
which  he  put  into  the  lips  of  this  gentleman,  on  this  occasion, 
was  so  characteristic,  that  Mr.  Buchanan  subsequently  complain 
ed  in  the  senate,  that  it  had  been  gravely  attributed  to  him  by 
several  journals,  as  having  been  actually  delivered,  and  that  he 
could  not  divest  many  of  his  worthy  constituents  in  Pennsylvania 
of  the  idea. 

The  figure  of  Mr.  Benton,  was  one  of  too  much  importance  not 
to  be  introduced  by  Mr.  Clay  into  this  fancy  sketch. 

"  I  can  tell  the  gentleman  from  Kentucky,  that  I  was  not  at  the 
White  House  on  the  occasion  to  which  he  alludes,"  said  the  Mis 
souri  senator,  interrupting  him. 

"  Then  I  will  suppose  what  the  gentleman  would  have  said  if 
he  had  been  present,"  continued  Mr.  Clay,  without  suffering  his 
imagination  to  be  checked  in  its  flight.  And  he  then  represented 
he  wordy  and  pompous  Missourian  bowing  at  the  executive  foot 
stool,  and  tendering  his  congratulations. 

The  space  to  which  we  have  been  restricted,  will  not  allow  us 
to  present  even  an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  whole  scene.     We 
can  only  refer  the  reader  to  it  as  one  of  the  most  felicitous  of 
lose  legitimate  presentations  of  the  ludicrous,  made  to  illustrate 
le  true,  which  some  times  occur  to  enliven  the  barrenness  of 
jgislative  debate. 

The  events  which  succeeded  the  veto,  are  too  recent  in  the 
finds  of  the  pe  >ple  to  render  a  minute  enumeration  necessary 


BILLS    PASSED    AT    THE    EXTRA    SESSION.  20*1 

here.  They  are  forcibly  summed  up  in  Mr.  Adams's  excellent 
report  on  the  president's  veto  of  the  revenue  bill.  A  second  bank 
bill,  shaped  to  meet  the  avowed  views  of  the  president,  was  pre 
pared,  passed,  and  then  vetoed.  The  cabinet,  with  the  exception 
of  Mr.  Webster,  resigned  ;  and  the  great  purposes  for  which  the 
special  session  of  Congress  had  been  called,  was  defeated  by  the 
will  of  one  man,  who  owed  his  influential  position  to  his  professed 
attachment  to  whig  principles,  and  his  declared  preference  foi 
Mr.  Clay  as  a  candidate  for  the  presidency. 

Mr.  Clay  was  unremitted  in  his  application  to  the  public  busi 
ness  during  the  extra  session.  He  spoke  on  a  great  variety  of 
questions,  and,  being  at  the  head  of  two  important  committees, 
performed  a  great  amount  of  hard  work.  Although  his  principal 
measure  for  the  public  relief  was  defeated  by  the  unlooked-for 
defection  of  John  Tyler,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  aiding  in  the 
repeal  of  the  odious  sub-treasury  system  —  in  the  passage  of  the 
bankrupt  law — arid  in  the  final  triumph  of  his  favorite  measure, 
often  baflled,  but  still  persevered  in,  the  distribution  of  the  sales 
of  the  public  lands.  By  a  provision  fastened  upon  this  act  by 
the  amendment  of  another,  distribution  was  to  cease  whenever 
the  average  rate  of  duties  on  imports  should  exceed  20  per  cent, 

A  revision  of  the  tariff,  rendered  necessary  by  the  expiration 
of  the  compromise  act,  was  also  undertaken.  This  was  the  most 
important  subject  which  engaged  the  attention  of  the  27th  Con 
gress,  at  its  first  regular  session.  To  meet  the  exigency  of  the 
occasion,  a  provisional  bill,  suspending  the  operation  of  the  dis 
tribution  bill  for  one  month,  as  well  in  consequence  of  a  lack  of 
funds  in  the  treasury,  as  of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  Congress  to 
give  more  mature  consideration  to  the  subject  of  a  tariff,  was 
passed.  But  it  encountered  still  another  and  another  veto  from 
the  president. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  Mr.  Clay  and  his  friends  did  not  de 
sire  an  adjustment  of  the  tariff  question,  during  the  session  of 
1841-'42.  Nothing  could  be  more  unfounded  than  this  charge. 
In  spite  of  discomfiture  and  mortification,  they  persevered  in  their 
efforts  for  the  relief  of  the  country,  and  evently  surrendered  the 
distribution  clause  to  meet  the  views  of  the  president ;  and  the 
.ariff  bill  finally  became  a  law,  through  the  patriotic  endeavors 


208  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

of  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay,  notwithstanding  the  attempt  of  Mi 
Tyler  to  crush  their  energies  and  arouse  their  opposition. 

On  the  31st  of  March,  1842,  after  one  of  the  longest  congres 
sional  careers  known  in  our  annals,  Mr.  Clay  resigned  his  seat 
in  the  senate  of  the  United  States.  It  having  been  previously 
understood  that  he  would  take  occasion,  in  presenting  the  creden* 
tials  of  his  successor,  Mr.  Crittenden,  to  make  some  valedictory 
remarks,  the  senate-chamber  was,  at  an  early  hour,  crowded  to 
its  utmost  capacity,  by  members  of  the  other  house,  and  by  a  large 
assemblage  of  citizens  and  ladies.  Some  of  Mr.  Clay's  best 
friends  had  looked  forward  with  apprehension  to  this  event — 
wearing  the  aspect,  as  it  did,  of  a  formal  and  appointed  leave- 
taking.  .  They  remembered  that  there  was  but  one  step  from  the 
sublime  to  the  ridiculcvus,  and  they  dreaded  lest  the  truly  im 
pressive  character  of  the  occasion  might  be  marred,  or  divested 
of  its  dignity,  by  any  farewell  words.  But  Mr.  Clay  had  hardly 
risen  to  speak  before  their  apprehensions  were  lost  and  forgotten 
in  a  deep  and  absorbing  interest  in  the  language  that  flowed 
calmly,  smoothly,  and  majestically  from  his  lips.  He  referred  to 
the  period  of  his  first  entrance  into  the  senate,  in  1 806.  He  paid 
a  merited  compliment  to  the  high  character  of  that  body,  and  to 
the  ability  of  its  individual  members  ;  but  added  that,  full  of  at 
traction  as  was  a  seat  in  that  chamber,  to  fill  the  aspirations  oi 
the  most  ambitious  heart,  he  had  long  determined  to  forego  it,  and 
to  seek  repose  among  the  calm  pleasures  of  "  home." 

It  had  been  his  purpose,  he  said,  to  terminate  his  connection 
with  the  senate  in  November,  1840.  Had  President  Harrison 
lived,  and  the  measures  devised  at  the  extra  session  been  fully 
carried  out,  he  would  have  then  resigned  his  seat.  But  the  hope 
that  at  the  regular  session  the  measures  left  undone  might  be  still 
perfected,  induced  him  to  postpone  his  determination  ;  and  events, 
which  arose  after  the  extra  session,  resulting  from  the  failure  of 
those  measures  which  had  been  proposed  at  that  session,  and 
which  appeared  to  throw  on  his  political  friends  a  temporary 
show  of  defeat,  confirmed  him  in  the  resolution  to  attend  the 
present  session  also  —  and,  whether  in  prosperity  or  adversity,  to 
share  the  fortune  of  his  friends.  But  he  resolved,  at  the  same 


FAREWELL    SPEECH    TO    THE    SENATE.  209 

time,  to  retire  as  soon  as  he  could  do  so  with  propriety  and  de 
cency.     Mr.  Clay  then  continued  as  follows  : — • 

"  From  1 806,  the  period  of  my  entry  on  this  noble  theatre,  with  short  in 
tervals,  to  the  present  time,  I  have  been  engaged  in  the  public  councils,  at 
home  and  abroad.  Of  the  nature  or  the  value  of  the  services  rendered  during 
that  long  and  arduous  period  of  my  life,  it  does  not  become  me  to  speak  ; 
history,  if  she  deigns  to  notice  me,  or  posterity,  if  the  recollections  of  my 
humble  actions  shall  be  transmitted  to  posterity,  are  the  best,  the  truest,  the 
most  impartial  judges.  When  death  has  closed  the  scene,  their  sentence 
will  be  pronounced,  and  to  that  I  appeal  and  refer  myself.  My  acts  and 
public  conduct  are  a  fair  subject  for  the  criticism  and  judgment  of  my  fellow- 
men;  but  the  private  motives  by  which  they  have  been  prompted — they  are 
known  only  to  the  great  Searcher  of  the  human  heart  and  to  myself;  and  I 
trust  I  may  be  pardoned  for  repeating  a  declaration  made  some  thirteen 
years  ago,  that»  whatever  errors — and,  doubtless,  they  have  been  many — may 
be  discovered  in  a  review  of  my  public  service  to  the  country,  I  can,  with 
unshaken  confidence,  appeal  to  the  Divine  Arbiter  for  the  truth  of  the  dec 
laration,  that  I  have  been  influenced  by  no  impure  purposes,  no  personal 
motive — have  sought  no  personal  aggrandizement ;  but  that  in  all  my  public 
acts,  I  have  had  a  sole  and  single  eye,  and  a  warm  and  devoted  heart,  direct 
ed  and  dedicated  to  what,  in  my  judgment,  I  believed  to  be  the  true  interest 
of  my  country." 

Mr.  Clay  then  alluded  to  the  fact  that,  in  common  with  other 
public  men,  he  had  not  enjoyed  an  immunity  from  censure  and 
detraction.  But  he  had  not  been  unsustained.  And  here  the 
allusion  to  the  persecutions  of  his  assailants,  led  to  the  mention 
of  Kentucky,  the  state  of'his  adoption — noble  Kentucky  —  who, 
when  the  storm  of  calumny  raged  the  fiercest,  and  he  seemed  to 
be  forsaken  by  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  threw  her  broad  and  im 
penetrable  shield  around  him,  and  bearing  him  up  aloft  in  her 
courageous  arms,  repelled  the  poisoned  shafts  aimed  for  his  de 
struction.  As  Mr.  Clay  uttered  the  name  of  Kentucky,  his  feel 
ings  overpowered  him  —  the  strong  man  was  bowed  with  emotion 
— he  passed  his  fingers  before  his  eyes  for  a  moment — then 
rallied,  and  proceeded  with  his  remarks.  To  the  charge  of  dic 
tatorship,  which  was  so  often  in  the  mouths  of  his  opponents  at 
that  time,  Mr.  Clay  replied  temperately  and  happily.  We  can 
quote  but  a  fragment  of  this  portion  of  his  valedictory  ad* 
dress  :  — 

"  That  my  nature  is  warm,  my  temper  ardent,  my  disposition,  especially 
in  relation  to  the  public  service,  enthusiastic,  I  am  fully  ready  to  own;  and 
those  who  supposed  that  I  have  been  assuming  the  dictatorship,  have  onlv 
mistaken  for  arrogance  or  assumption,  that  fervent  ardor  and  devotion  whick 

14 


210  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

is  nal.ural  to  my  constitution  and  which  I  may  have  displayed  with  little  re 
gard  to  cold,  calculating,  and  cautious  prudence,  in  sustaining  and  zealously 
supporting  important  national  measures  of  policy  which  I  have  presented 
and  proposed." 

The  truly  generous  qualities  of  Mr.  Clay's  nature,  shine  forth 
from  every  line  of  the  following  passage  :  — 

"During  a  long  and  arduous  career  of  service  in  the  public  councils  of  my 
country,  especially  during  the  last  eleven  years  I  have  held  a  seat  in  the 
senate,  from  the  same  ardor  and  enthusiasm  of  character,  I  have,  no  doubt,  in 
the  heat  of  debate,  and  in  an  honest  endeavor  to  maintain  my  opinions  against 
adverse  opinions  equally  honestly  entertained,  as  to  the  best  course  to  be 
adopted  for  the  public  welfare,  I  may  have  often  inadvertently  or  uninten 
tionally,  in  moments  of  excited  debate,  made  use  of  language  that  has  been 
offensive,  and  susceptible  of  injurious  interpretation  toward  mv  brother 
senators.  If  there  be  any  here  who  retain  wounded  feelings  of  injury  or 
dissatisfaction  produced  on  such  occasions,  I  beg  to  assure  them  that  I  now 
offer  the  amplest  apology  for  any  departure  on  my  part  from  the  established 
rules  of  parliamentary  decorum  and  courtesy.  On  the  other  hand,  I  assure 
the  senators,  one  and  all,  without  exception,  and  without  reserve,  that  I  re 
tire  from  this  senate-chamber  without  carrying  with  me  a  single  feeling  of 
resentment  or  dissatisfaction  toward  the  senate  or  any  of  its  members." 

Mr.  Clay  concluded  this  memorable  address  by  invoking,  in  a 
tone  which  thrilled  through  every  heart,  the  blessings  of  Heaven 
upon  the  whole  senate  and  every  member  of  it.  The  hushed 
suspense  of  intense  feeling  and  attention,  pervaded  the  crowded 
assemblage  as  he  sat  down.  For  nearly  half  a  minute  after  he 
had  finished,  no  one  spoke — no  one  moved.  There  was  not  a 
dry  eye  in  the  senate-chamber.  Men  of  all  parties  seemed 
equally  overcome  by  the  pathos  and  majesty  of  that  farewell.  At 
length,  Mr.  Preston  of  South  Carolina,  rose  and  remarked,  that 
what  had  just  taken  place  was  an  epoch  in  their  legislative  his 
tory  ;  and,  from  the  feeling  which  was  evinced,  he  plainly  saw 
that  there  was  little  disposition  to  attend  to  business.  He  would, 
therefore,  move  that  the  senate  adjourn. 

The  motion  was  unanimously  agreed  to  ;  but  even  then  the 
whole  audience  seemed  to  remain  spell-bound  by  the  effect  of 
those  parting  tones  of  Mr.  Clay.  For  several  seconds  no  one 
stirred.  "  In  all  probability,  we  should  have  remained  there  to 
this  hour,"  said  an  honorable  senator  to  us  recently,  in  describing 
the  scene,  "  had  not  Mr.  Clay  himself  risen,  and  moved  toward 
<he  area."  And  then,  at  length,  slowly  and  reluctantly,  the  as- 
emblage  dispersed. 


RETURN  TO  KENTUCKY. 


Shortly  after  the  adjournment,  as  Mr.  Calhoun  was  crossing 
the  senate-chamber,  he  and  Mr.  Clay  encountered.  For  five 
years  they  had  been  estranged  ;  and  the  only  words  which  had 
passed  between  them  had  been  those  harshly  spoken  in  debate. 
But  now,  as  they  thus  inadvertently  met,  the  old  times  came  over 
them.  They  remembered  only  their  political  companionship  of 
twenty  years'  standing.  The  intervening  differences  which  had 
chilled  their  hearts  toward  each  other,  were  forgotten.  The 
tears  sprang  to  their  eyes.  They  shook  each  other  cordially  by 
the  hand  —  interchanged  a  "  God  bless  you  !"  and  parted.  We 
have  alluded  elsewhere  briefly  to  this  scene.  It  was  a  happy 
sequel  to  the  leading  events  of  the  day. 


XX. 

MR.    CLAY    A    PRIVATE    CITIZEN HIS    VIEWS. 

ON  his  return  to  Kentucky,  after  retiring  from  public  life,  Mr. 
Clay  was  received  with  all  those  manifestations  of  enthusiastic 
affection  which  it  is  possible  for  a  grateful  constituency  to  exhibit. 
On  the  9th  of  June,  1842,  he  partook  of  a  public  entertainment, 
or  barbecue,  given  in  his  honor  near  Lexington. 

The  speecn  which  he  delivered  on  this  occasion,  is  probably 
fresh  in  the  recollection  of  many  of  our  readers.  Containing,  as 
it  does,  many  personal  reminiscences  of  his  past  career,  and  a 
revie^v  of  those  leading  questions  of  policy  upon  which  we  have 
already  given  his  opinions,  it  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  his 
numerous  addresses  to  popular  assemblies. 

Early  in  October,  1842,  being  on  a  visit  to  Richmond,  in  the 
state  of  Indiana,  the  occasion  of  his  meeting  a  large  concourse 
of  his  fellow-citizens,  was  seized  upon  by  a  number  of  his  politi 
cal  opponents  to  present  him  with  a  petition  praying  him  to 
emancipate  his  slaves  in  Kentucky.  It  was  thought  that  even 
Henry  Clay  would  be  nonplused  and  embarrassed  by  so  inop 
portune  and  unexpected  an  appeal.  A  Mr.  Mendenhall  was 
selected  to  present  him  with  the  petition,  and  expectation  was 


212  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

raised  to  the  highest  pitch  among  the  few  who  were  in  the  secret, 
and  who  were  far  from  being  Mr.  Clay's  well-wishers,  to  hear 
what  he  would  say.  '  Never  did  he  acquit  himself  moro  felici 
tously  than  on  this  occasion. 

The  indignation  was  great  among  the  assembly,  when  they 
learned  the  object  with  which  Mr.  Mendenhall  had  made  his  way 
through  their  midst  to  the  spot  where  Mr.  Clay  stood.  They  re 
garded  it  as  an  insult  to  him  and  his  friends  ;  and  the  probability 
is,  that  Mr.  Mendenhall  would  have  had  some  palpable  proof  of 
their  sense  of  his  impertinence,  had  not  Mr.  Clay  instantly  ap 
pealed  to  the  assembly  in  the  following  terms  :  — 

"  I  hope  that  Mr.  Mendenhall  may  be  treated  with  the  greatest  forbear 
ance  and  respect.  I  assure  my  fellow-citizens,  here  collected,  that  the  pres 
entation  of  the  petition  has  not  occasioned  the  slightest  pain,  nor  excited  one 
solitary  disagreeable  emotion.  If  it  were  to  be  presented  to  me,  I  prefer 
that  it  should  be  done  in  the  face  of  this  vast  assemblage.  I  think  I  can 
give  it  such  an  answer  as  becomes  me  and  the  subject  of  which  it  treats. 
At  all  events,  I  entreat  and  beseech  my  fellow-citizens,  for  their  sake,  for  my 
sake,  to  offer  no  disrepect,  no  indignity,  no  violence,  in  word  or  deed,  to  Mr. 
Mendenhall."  Then,  turning  to  Mr.  Mendenhall :  "  Allow  me  to  say,  that 
I  think  you  have  not  conformed  to  the  independent  character  of  an  American 
citizen  in  presenting  a  petition  to  me.  A  petition,  as  the  term  implies,  gener 
ally  proceeds  from  an  inferior  in  power  or  station  to  a  superior ;  but  between 
us  there  is  entire  equality." 

Mr.  Clay  remarked,  in  continuation,  that  he  desired  no  con 
cealment  of  his  opinions  in  regard  to  the  institution  of  slavery. 
He  looked  upon  it  as  a  great  evil,  and  deeply  lamented  that  we 
had  derived  it  from  the  parental  government  and  from  our  ances 
tors.  But,  without  any  knowledge  of  the  relation  in  which  he 
stood  to  his  slaves,  or  their  individual  condition,  Mr.  Mendenhall 
and  his  associates  had  presented  a  petition  calling  upon  him  forth 
with  to  liberate  the  whole  of  them. 

"  Now  let  me  tell  you,"  said  Mr.  C.,  "  that  some  half  a  dozen  of  them,  from 
age,  decrepitude,  or  infirmity,  are  wholly  unable  to  gain  a  livelihood  for 
themselves,  and  are  a  heavy  charge  upon  me.  Do  you  think  that  I  should 
conform  to  the  dictates  of  humanity  by  ridding  myself  of  that  charge,  and 
Bending  them  forth  into  the  world,  wish  the  boon  of  liberty,  to  end  a  wretch 
ed  existence  in  starvation  ?" 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Clay  admirably  exposed  the  hypocrisy  of 
the  petitioners  by  the  following  proposition,  in  regard  to  which 
they  have  never  taken  any  steps  :  — 

"  I  shall,  Mr.  Mendenhall,  take  your  petition  into  respectful  aud  deliberate 
consideration;  but  before  I  come  to  a  final  decision,  /  should  like  to  knwi 


WHIG    CONVENTION    AT    DAYTON.  213 

what  you  and  your  associates  are  willing  to  do  for  the  slaves  in  my  possession, 
if  I  shoidd  think  proper  to  liberate  them,  I  own  about  fifty,  who  are  proba 
\]j  worth  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  To  turn  them  loose  upon  society,  with 
out  any  means  of  subsistence  or  support,  would  be  an  act  of  cruelty.  Are 
you  willing  to  raise  and  secure  the  payment  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  for 
their  benefit,  if  I  should  be  induced  to  free  them  ?  The  security  of  the  pay 
ment  of  that  sum,  would  materially  lessen*  the  obstacle  in  the  way  of  their 
emancipation." 

Mr.  Clay  finished  his  remarks  with  some  friendly  advice  to 
Mr.  Mendenhall,  which  it  is  probable  that  individual  will  never 
forget.  The  tables  were  completely  turned  upon  those  who  had 
thought  to  annoy  and  embarrass  the  great  Kentuckian.  The 
bearer  of  the  petition  and  his  associates  were  suffered  to  slink 
away  unnoticed  and  unheeded  by  the  crowd. 

There  has  never  been  any  concealment  on  Mr.  Clay's  part,  of 
his  opinions  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  Through  the  whole 
course  of  this  memoir,  they  will  be  found  scattered  from  the 
period  when  he  first  advocated  the  gradual  eradication  of  slavery 
from  Kentucky,  in  1797,  to  the  present  moment.  In  his  speech 
before  the  Colonization  society,  in  1827  [see  Chapter  X.  of  the 
present  work],  nothing  can  be  more  explicit  than  the  language  he 
employs.  We  refer  those  who  would  be  enlightened  further  in 
regard  to  his  views,  to  that  eloquent  address. 

On  the  29th  of  September,  1842,  Mr.  Clay  attended  the  great 
whig  convention  at  Dayton,  Ohio,  where  ONE  HUNDRED  THOU 
SAND  WHIGS  are  believed  to  have  been  assembled. 

"  At  8  o'clock,"  says  one  of  the  actors  in  the  scene,  "  when  every  street  in 
the  city  was  filled,  and  there  seemed  no  resting-place  for  any,  the  procession 
was  formed.  This  occupied  a  long  time.  When  done,  the  order,  '  March !' 
was  given ;  and,  in  solid  mass,  we  moved  to  welcome  the  great  statesman, 
Henry  Clay,  into  the  city.  He  was  met  near  the  city,  and,  at  half-past  9 
o'clock,  reached  the  neighborhood  of  the  National  hotel.  Here  a  beautiful 
sight  was  witnessed.  One  hundred  and  twenty-five  children,  as  the  honest 
patriot  approached,  welcomed  him  with  songs!  Their  sweet  voices  rang  out 
in  merry  peals,  and  the  multitude  responded  to  it  with  the  heartiest  enthu 
siasm.  After  this,  Mr.  Clay  occupied  a  stand  for  some  time,  as  the  procession 
passed  by,  welcoming  him  to  Ohio,  and,  in  return,  receiving  his  salutations. 

"  When  the  procession  had  passed,  Mr.  Clay  retired  into  the  hotel.  Gov 
ernor  Metcalf  then  appeared  at  the  window,  and  delivered  a  speech — return 
ing  the  thanks  of  Kentucky  for  the  warm-hearted  reception  they  had  met 
with,  and  bidding  all  who  loved  the  name  of  America,  to  rally  together  in 
defence  of  American  liberty  and  American  labor. 

"Mr.  Schenck  read  resolutions,  prepared  by  the  committee,  nominating 
Henry  Clay  and  John  Davis  for  the  whig  candidates  for  1844.  At  this  time 
Mr.  Clay  was  seen  in  the  crowd,  and  then,  as  if  there  had  been  one  voice 
only,  the  shout  went  forth  for  the  statesman  of  the  nation.  lie  answered  it; 


214  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

and,  in  a  speech  of  two  hours,  plain,  yet  eloquent,  he  spoke,  concealing  no 
opinion,  disguising  no  wish,  the  multitude  all  the  while  listening  with  eager 
attention  and  breathless  silence.  And  such  a  speech !  It  was  a  master-effort 
of  a  master-spirit. 

Of  this  tremendous  meeting  Mr.  Clay  afterward  remarked,  that 
of  all  the  crowds  in  Europe  or  elsewhere,  he  never  saw  one  so  ' 
great.     A  vast  sea  of  human  heads  surrounded  the  platform,  cov 
ering  many  acres. 

In  the  month  of  December,  1842,  Mr.  Clay,  having  private 
business  in  New  Orleans,  where  some  of  his  near  relations  reside, 
visited  that  city,  stopping  at  Natchez,  and  other  places  on  his 
route.  He  was  everywhere  received  by  the  people  with  such 
enthusiastic  demonstrations  of  popular  affection  as  had  never  be 
fore  been  bestowed  upon  any  American  except  Washington. 

On  his  return  homeward  from  Louisiana,  about  the  middle  of 
February,  1843,  his  progress  was  continually  impeded  by  vast 
assemblages  of  the  people  to  meet  and  welcome  him.  At  Mo 
bile,  on  the  2d  of  February,  and  at  Vicksburg,  on  the  20th  of 
February,  an  immense  concourse  of  citizens  collected  to  offer  the 
tribute  of  their  gratitude  and  respect.  The  honorable  S.  S. 
Prentiss  addressed  him,  on  the  latter  occasion,  in  that  strain  of 
fluent  and  impassioned  eloquence  for  which  that  young  and  gifted 
orator  is  distinguished. 

At  Jackson,  the  capital  of  Mississippi,  Mr.. Clay  was  met  and 
welcomed  by  the  largest  concourse  ever  assembled  in  the  state. 
At  Memphis,  Tennessee,  crowds  of  citizens  from  the  surround 
ing  region  assembled  to  tender  him  their  affectionate  respects,  to 
look  on  and  listen  to  the  greatest  living  champion  of  their  coun 
try's  honor  and  interests.  Thus  felicitated  and  welcomed  on  his 
route,  Mr.  Clay,  with  more  than  a  conqueror's  trophies,  returned, 
in  fine  health  arid  spirits,  to  Ashland,  just  as  spring  was  begin 
ning  to  fringe  with  green  the  old  oaks  that  waved  around  his 
homestead. 

Early  in  April,  he  addressed  a  large  body  of  his  fellow-citi 
zens  in  the  courthouse  yard  at  Lexington ;  and,  in  the  course 
of  his  remarks,  acknowledged,  in  appropriate  language,  the  atten- 
t  ons  which  had  been  paid  to  him,  and  the  honors  which  had 
been  showered  upon  him  by  all  parties  during  his  late  trip  to  he 
southwest. 


LETTER    TO    S.    F.    BRONSON.  213 

It  having  been  understood  that  Mr.  Clay  would  make  a  tour  to 
the  southeast  during  the  autumn  of  1843,  innumerable  letters 
from  committees  in  all  sections  of  the  country  were  poured  in 
upon  him,  requesting  him  to  visit  a  multitude  of  places,  both  on 
his  route  and  aside  from  it.  The  task  of  replying  to  these  letters 
must  alone  have  been  exceedingly  laborious.  North  Carolina 
was,  we  believe,  the  first  to  claim  from  him  a  visit.  In  his  re 
ply  to  a  committee  of  citizens  of  Raleigh,  dated  10th  July,  1843, 
he  consents  to  pay  a  visit,  some  time  in  the  course  of  the  next 
spring  to  that  state,  which  was  "  the  first  to  declare  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  colonies,  and  will  be  among  the  last  to  abandon 
the  support  of  the  Union." 

Several  letters  from  Mr.  Clay,  on  the  subject  of  the  tariff,  ap 
peared  during  the  summer  of  1843.  Nothing  could  be  more  ex 
plicit  and  undisguised  than  the  expression  of  his  views.  In  his 
reply,  dated  13th  September,  1843,  to  a  letter  from  S.  F.  Bron- 
son,  Esq.,  of  Georgia,  asking  his  opinions  in  regard  to  the  pro 
tective  policy  of  1832,  he  writes  : — 

"The  sum  and  substance  of  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  true  policy  of  the 
United  States,  in  respect  to  a  tariff,  may  be  briefly  stated.  In  conformity 
with  the  principle  announced  in  the  compromise  act,  I  think,  that  whatever 
revenue  is  necessary  to  an  economical  and  honest  administration  of  the  gen 
eral  government,  ought  to  be  derived  from  duties  imposed  on  foreign  im 
ports.  And  I  believe  that>  in  establishing  a  tariff  of  those  duties,  such  a 
discrimination  ought  to  be  made,  as  will  incidentally  afford  reasonable  pro 
tection  to  our  national  interests. 

"  I  think  there  is  no  danger  of  a  high  tariff  being  ever  established ;  that 
of  1828  was  eminently  deserving  that  denomination.  I  was  not  in  Congress 
when  it  passed,  and  did  not  vote  for  it ;  but  with  its  history  and  with  the 
circumstances  which  gave  birth  to  it,  I  am  well  acquainted.  They  were 
highly  discreditable  to  American  legislation,  and  I  hope,  for  its  honor,  will 
never  be  again  repeated. 

"After  my  return  to  Congress,  in  1831,  my  efforts  were  directed  to  the 
modification  and  reduction  of  the  rates  of  duty  contained  in  the  act  of  1828. 
The  act  of  1832  greatly  reduced  and  modified  them;  and  the  act  of  1833, 
commonly  called  the  compromise  act,  still  farther  reduced  and  modified 
them.  The  act  which  passed  at  the  extra  session  of  1841,  which  I  support 
ed,  was  confined  to  the  free  articles.  I  had  resigned  my  seat  in  the  senate 
when  the  act  of  1842  passed.  Generally  the  duties  which  it  imposes  are 
lower  than  those  in  the  act  of  1832.  And,  without  intending  to  express  my 
opinion  upon  every  item  of  this  last  tariff,  I  would  say  that  I  think  the  pro 
visions,  in  the  main,  are  wise  and  proper.  If  there  be  any  excesses  or  de 
fects  in  it  (of  which  I  have  not  the  means  here  of  judging),  they  ought  to  be 
corrected. 

"  My  opinion,  that  there  is  no  danger  hereafter  of  a  high  tariff,  is  founded 
on  the  gratifying  fact  that  our  manufactures  have  now  taken  a  deep  root.  In 


216  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

their  infancy,  they  needed  a  greater  measure  of  protection;  "but,  as  they 
grow  and  advance,  they  acquire  strength  and  stability,  and,  consequently, 
will  require  less  protection.  Even  now,  some  branches  of  them  are  able 
to  maintain,  in  distant  markets,  successful  competition  with  rival  foreign 
manufactures." 

By  this  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Clay,  so  far  from  contempla 
ting  the  expediency  of  higher  and  higher  duties,  believes  that  the 
rapid  and  constant  progress  of  our  manufactures  tends  ever  to 
diminish,  instead  of  to  increase,  the  necessity  of  decidedly  pro 
tective  duties.  He  never  was  in  favor  of  a  high  tariff.  In  his 
own  language,  he  believes  that  "  the  revenue  from  the  general 
government  should  be  derived  from  the  foreign  imports,  to  the 
exclusion  of  direct  taxes,  and  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  public 
lands  ;  and  that  no  more  revenue  should  be  levied  than  is  neces 
sary  to  an  economical  administration  of  the  government:  but  that, 
in  levying  it,  such  discriminations  ought  to  be  made  as  will  af 
ford  moderate  and  reasonable  protection  to  American  interests 
against  the  rivalry  and  prohibitory  policy  of  foreign  powers.'5 

Notwithstanding  these  clear  and  unequivocal  declarations,  the 
attempt  is  frequently  made  to  misrepresent  Mr.  Clay's  views  in 
regard  to  the  tariff.      Surely  there  is  no  longer  any  excuse  for 
ignorance  upon  this  subject  among  persons  claiming  to  be  intel 
ligent. 

In  December,  1843,  Mr.  Clay's  private  affairs  again  required 
his  presence  in  New  Orleans.  He  was  welcomed  on  his  route 
to  that  city  by  the  same  testimonials  of  popular  attachment  that 
had  signalized  his  journey  of  the  preceding  year ;  and,  during 
his  residence  in  the  great  southern  metropolis,  citizens  of  all 
parties  seemed  to  unite  in  doing  him  honor.  Before  his  depart 
ure,  the  state  convention  of  the  democratic  whigs  of  Louisiana, 
which  was  holding  its  session  at  the  time,  formed  in  procession, 
the  23d  of  February,  1844,  and  marched  to  the  St.  Charles  hotel, 
where  he  was  staying,  to  tender  their  respects.  On  the  25th  of 
February,  he  reached  Mobile,  on  his  way  to  North  Carolina 
Although  it  was  the  sabbath,  and  of  course  no  civic  ceremonies 
denoted  the  welcome  which  was  swelling  in  every  bosom,  yet 
the  wharves  were  lined  with  a  dense  and  innumerable  throng, 
eager  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  him  as  he  disembarked.  On  the  5th 
of  March  he  left  Mobile  for  Montgomery,  Columbus  (Georgia), 


SPEECH    AT    CHARLESTON,    S.    C.  217 

Macon,  and  other  intermediate  cities  on  his  route,  followed  by 
the  best  hopes  of  the  people. 

A  letter  from  him  to  the  whigs  of  Philadelphia,  bearing  date 
the  10th  of  February,  1844,  is  worthy  of  mention  in  this  place 
for  the  sentiments  it  expressed  in  regard  to  Washii  gton.  Mr 
Clay  had  been  invited  to  unite  in  the  celebration  of  the  anni 
versary  of  the  birth  of  the  hero  of  Mount  Vernon.  Distance  and 
unavoidable  engagements  prevented  his  acceptance  of  the  invita 
tion.  In  his  reply,  he  says  : — 

"The  birth  of  no  man  that  ever  lived  is  so  well  entitled  to  perpetual 
commemoration  as  a  rare  blessing  bestowed  on  mankind  by  the  goodness  of 
Providence.  In  contemplating  his  career  and  character,  we  behold  display- 
,ed  and  concentrated  in  him,  calmness,  dignity,  moderation,  firmness,  fidelity, 
disinterestedness,  wisdom — all  the  virtues  that  adorn  the  warrior,  the  pa 
triot,  the  statesman,  and  the  honest  man.  Most  justly  has  he  acquired  the 
title  of  the  Father  of  his  country.  During  the  Revolution,  and  since,  many 
good  men  have  arisen  in  the  United  States ;  but  WASHINGTON  stands  at  an 
immeasurable  height,  elevated  far  above  them  all." 

On  the  1st  of  April,  1844,  Mr.  Clay  reached  Columbia,  South 
Carolina,  where  he  was  the  guest  of  the  honorable  William  C. 
Preston.  On  the  6th,  he  visited  Charleston;  and  here  all  sorts 
of  honors  and  gratulations  were  heaped  upon  him  by  the  enthu 
siastic  whigs  of  that  hospitable  city.  He  was  received  by  an 
immense  concourse  of  citizens  in  the  theatre,  and  being  addressed 
by  the  venerable  Dr.  Wm.  Read,  one  of  the  few  surviving  officers 
of  the  revolution,  he  replied  in  a  speech  of  nearly  two  hours'  du 
ration,  which  commanded  and  repaid  the  closest  attention.  As 
the  tariff  was  the  subject  which  most  intimately  affected  the  in 
terests  of  his  hearers,  he  reiterated,  with  his  accustomed  frank 
ness,  his  views  in  regard  to  it.  He  declared  himself  in  favor 
of  a  system  of  protection,  moderate,  reasonable,  certain,  and  du 
rable — yielding  no  more  revenue  than  is  necessary  for  an  honest 
and  economical  administration  of  the  government,  and,  within  that 
limit,  discriminating  in  the  imposition  of  duties  between  those 
articles  which  do  and  those  which  do  not  enter  into  competition 
with  domestic  industry — throwing  the  heavier  duty  on  the  former, 
and  the  lighter  duty  on  the  latter.  Peace  could  only  be  found 
by  taking  the  middle  path.  Neither  interest  nor  section  c^uld 
expect  to  have  it  all  its  own  way.  The  matter  must  be  adjusted 
by  concession,  compromise,  conciliation — such  concession,  com- 
J 


218  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

promise,  and  conciliation,  as  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  federal 
constitution,  and  under  the  influence  of  which  our  political  union 
would  continue  to  fulfil  its  sacred  trust,  and  move  forward  in  its 
high  career  a  blessing  to  our  race. 

At  Raleigh,  on  the  12th,  Mr.  Clay  met  with  a  reception  every 
way  worthy  the  "  Old  North  state."  His  friend  and  former 
fellow-laborer,  B.  W.  Leigh,  of  Virginia,  made  the  journey  to 
Raleigh  to  meet  him,  and  addressed  the  multitude  from  the  porch 
of  the  capitol  with  great  animation  and  effect.  Mr.  Clay  was 
escorted  by  an  immense  throng  of  citizens  to  the  residence  of 
the  governor  of  the  state,  Mr.  Morehead,  where  he  remained 
during  his  stay  in  Raleigh. 

At  Wilmington  he  addressed  the  people,  and  one  paragraph  of 
his  speech  commends  him  to  the  confidence  of  his  countrymen 
of  all  parties.  He  said  :  "  I  am  a  whig  :  I  am  so  because  I  be 
lieve  the  principles  of  the  whig  party  are  best  adapted  to  pro 
mote  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  I  seek  to  change  no  man's 
allegiance  to  his  party,  be  it  what  it  way.  A  life  of  great  length 
and  experience  has  satisfied  me  that  all  parties  aim  at  the  com 
mon  good  of  the  country.  The  great  body  of  the  democrats,  as 
well  as  the  whigs,  are  so  from  a  conviction  that  their  policy  is 
patriotic.  I  take  the  hand  of  one  as  cordially  as  that  of  another, 
for  all  are  Americans.  /  place  COUNTRY  far  above  all  parties. 
Look  aside  from  that,  and  parties  are  no  longer  worthy  of  being 
cherished." 

On  the  18th  of  April,  he  passed  on  to  Petersburg,  Virginia 
and,  the  Saturday  following,  embarked  for  Norfolk,  where  he 
did  not  arrive  till  Sunday  morning,  owing  to  the  detention  of  tho 
boat  by  fog.  His  progress  was  a  series  of  ovations.  On  the 
26th,  he  arrived  in  Washington.  He  was  now  approaching  one 
of  the  most  interesting  epochs  of  his  eventful  life.  By  acclama 
tion  the  whigs  of  the  country  seemed  to  call  upon  him  to  stand 
forth  once  more,  the  worthiest  embodiment  of  their  principles, 
the  candidate  of  their  choice  and  affections.  In  every  state  there 
were  spontaneous  movements  of  the  people,  which  precluded  all 
doubt  as  to  the  result  of  the  deliberations  of  a  whig  national  con 
vention  for  the  nomination  of  president.  We  must  here  indulge 
in  a  brief  retrospect  of  public  events  connected  with  Mr.  Clay's 


HIS    RELATIONS    WITH    GENERAL    HARRISON.  219 

recent  career ;  and  it  is  with  no  wish  to  revive  old  griefs  that  we 
shall  touch  upon  topics,  in  their  views  upon  which  good  whigs 
may  differ.  Our  object  is  to  present  such  facts  as  should  guard 
us  for  the  future  against  errors,  which  all  experience  calls  out 
upon  us  to  shun. 


XXI. 

CLAY HARRISON TYLER. 

DURING  the  whole  canvass  of  1840,  and  up  to  the  time^oj! 
General  Harrison's  death,  he  and  Mr.  Clay  were  upon  terms  of 
the  most  confidential  intimacy.  All  were  sensible  of  the  noble 
disinterestedness  of  Mr.  Clay's  course,  but  no  one  appreciated 
it  more  highly,  or  felt  more  grateful  for  it  toward  him,  than  Gen 
eral  Harrison  himself.  On  the  15th  of  January,  1840,  the  gen 
eral  addressed  a  letter  from  North  Bend  to  Mr.  Clay  at  Wash 
ington  city,  from  which  we  have  been  permitted  to  make  the 
following  extract : — 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  The  generosity  of  your  nature  will  not  permit  you  to 
doubt  that  my  feelings  of  gratitude  toward  you  for  the  magnanimity  of  your 
conduct  toward  me,  in  relation  to  the  nomination  for  the  presidency,  are 
such  as  they  ought  to  be,  although  I  have  so  long  delayed  to  express  them 
directly  to  you.  I  must  beg  you  also  to  believe  that  if  the  claims  derived 
from  your  superior  talents  and  experience  (so  universally  acknowledged  by 
my  supporters),  had  prevailed  over  those  which  accidental  circumstances 
had  conferred  upon  me,  and  enabled  the  convention  to  name  you  as  the  can 
didate,  that  you  would  hare  had  no  more  zealous  supporter  in  the  Union 
than  I  should  have  been." 

The  first  time  they  met  after  the  election  was  at  the  house  of 
Governor  Letcher  in  Frankfort,  Kentucky ;  and  Mr.  Clay  after 
ward  entertained  the  president  elect  at  Ashland.  During  their 
interviews  on  those  occasions,  they  had  long,  full,  and  interesting 
conversations,  on  the  state  of  public  affairs.  In  their  first  inter 
view,  General  Harrison  offered,  and  Mr.  Clay  promptly  declined, 
any  place  in  the  new  administration.  He  was  then  resolved  to 
retire  from  the  senate  to  private  life.  Both  of  them  concurred 
in  the  expediency  of  a  call  of  an  extra  session  cf  Congress, 


220  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

agreeing  that  the  benefit  of  those  measures  of  public  policy  which 
the  people,  in  the  great  event  that  had  just  transpired,  had  signi 
fied  their  wish  to  bring  about,  ought  not  to  be  deferred  to  the 
ordinary  period  for  the  assembling  of  Congress.  Indeed,  the 
bankrupt  condition  in  which  Mr.  Van  Buren  had  left  the  treasury 
was  of  itself  an  evil  which  rendered  an  early  convening  of  Con 
gress  indispensable.  It  was  at  their  first  interview  at  the  gov 
ernor's,  that  Mr.  Clay,  after  having  declined  the  offer  of  any 
official  station,  suggested  to  General  Harrison  that  he  ought  not, 
in  his  official  arrangements,  to  overlook  Mr.  Webster,  and  that 
if  he  had  himself  been  elected,  he  should  have  felt  bound,  from 
the  high  estimation  in  which  that  gentleman  was  then  held  by 
the  whig  party,  to  tender  him  some  distinguished  place.  He 
did  not  designate  any  particular  station  to  which  he  thought  Mr. 
Webster  ought  to  be  appointed.  Mr.  Clay  was  induced  to  make 
this  suggestion,  because  the  ground  had  been  taken  in  several 
leading  whig  journals  that  if  he  did  not  go  into  the  cabinet,  Mr. 
Webster  ought.  The  suggestion  of  Mr.  Clay  appeared  to  re 
move  a  burden  from  the  mind  of  General  Harrison  ;  and  the  next 
day,  the  latter,  in  conversation  with  several  gentlemen  at  Frank 
fort,  indulged  in  excessive  praise  of  Mr.  Clay  for  his  great  dis 
interestedness  and  magnanimity. 

After  the  return  of  General  Harrison  from  Kentucky  to  North 
Bend,  he  and  Mr.  Clay  did  not  meet  until  the  arrival  of  the  former 
at  Washington  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  the  high  office  to  which 
he  had  been  elected.  Their  friendly  intimacy  was  again  re 
newed.  General  Harrison  placed  his  inaugural  address  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Clay,  with  the  request  that  he  would  examine  it, 
and  intimate  any  alterations  that  might  occur  to  him  as  being 
necessary.  He  at  the  same  time  informed  him  that  a  member 
of  his  projected  cabinet  had  prepared  an  inaugural  for  him,  which 
he  wished  him  to  adopt,  but  that  he  would  not  substitute  it  for 
his  own  for  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Several  of  the  intended  mem 
bers  of  the  cabinet  apprehended  that  General  Harrison's  compo 
sition  would  not  be  well  received  by  the  public,  and  they  applied 
to  Mr.  Clay  to  induce  him  to  modify  it.  In  compliance  with 
their  request,  Mr.  Clay  carefully  examined  the  document,  and 
proposed  a  number  of  inconsiderable  alterations,  some  having 


GENERAL  HARRISON ANECDOTE.  221 

reference  to  the  phraseology,  and  some  to  the  sentiment ;  and 
most  of  these  the  new  president  promptly  and  thankfully  adopted. 
But  there  was  one  alteration,  longer  than  any  of  the  others,  which 
he  proposed,  and  against  this  the  general  set  his  face.  The 
proposed  alteration  was,  to  expunge  the  clauses  relating  to  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  which  may  now  be  seen  in  the  early  part 
of  his  address.  This  was  touching  the  general  on  a  tender  point ; 
and,  in  declining  to  adopt  it,  he  remarked  that  he  was  particu 
larly  attached  to  allusions  and  illustrations  drawn  from  Greek 
and  Roman  history ;  and  apropos  to  this  remark  he  related  the 
following  anecdote  of  himself : — 

When  a  member  of  the  house  of  representatives,  he  was  one 
day  addressing  the  speaker  in  a  speech  of  considerable  vehe 
mence  and  length.  During  its  delivery,  he  made  frequent  citations 
from  Greek  and  Roman  history.  The  galleries  were  excessively 
thronged,  and  a  man  was  endeavoring  to  push  his  way  through 
the  crowd  to  a  position  where  he  could  see  as  well  as  hear.  He 
could  not  reach  one  ;  but  hearing  the  references  to  the  Greeks 
and  the  Romans,  he  exclaimed,  with  the  most  emphatic  of  oaths, 
"  That's  General  Harrison  !  Though  I  can't  see  him,  I  know 
him  by  what  he  says  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  !" 

Mr.  Clay's  great  anxiety,  after  General  Harrison's  entrance 
upon  his  official  duties,  was  to  secure  the  adoption  of  those  pub 
lic  measures  which,  by  his  election,  and  through  his  administra 
tion,  the  people  wished  to  establish.  This  was  the  absorbing 
desire  of  Mr.  Clay's  heart.  He  knew  that  if  he  interfered  in  the 
disposal  of  the  patronage  of  the  government,  he  would  excite 
jealousies  against  himself,  to  which  he  was  aware  there  existed 
a  predisposition,  and  impair  his  just  influence  in  the  establish 
ment  of  wise  systems  of  policy.  Painful,  therefore,  as  it  was  for 
him  to  abstain  from  promoting  the  wishes  of  friends,  whom  he 
would  gladly  have  served,  he  abstained  from  all  interference  in 
public  appointments  further  than  to  endeavor  to  prevent  the  adop 
tion  of  one  or  two,  which  he  regarded  as  injudicious  and  bad. 

If  General  Harrison  had  lived,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
all  the  great  and  leading  measures  of  the  whig  party  would  have 
been  successfully  carried  out.  But  it  pleased  Providence  to  de 
cree  otherwise.  The  nation  had  to  deplore  the  untimely  death 


222  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

of  General  Harrison  in  one  short  month  after  his  installation,  and 
John  Tyler,  as  the  vice-president,  succeeded  him. 

Mr.  Clay  had  known  this  latter  gentleman  a  number  of  years, 
although  he  had  had  no  hand  in  his  nomination  to  the  office  from 
which  he  was  transferred  to  the  presidency.  Mr.  Tyler  was 
affable,  polite,  and  agreeable,  in  company  and  conversation.  He 
had  made  no  great  figure  in  any  of  the  various  offices  which  he 
had  filled,  was  not  considered  firm  of  purpose,  yet  always 
acquitted  himself  respectably,  and  was  supposed  to  be  at  least 
honest.  His  inaugural  address,  through  the  medium  of  the  press 
at  Washington,  created  hopes — but  hopes,  which,  in  the  sequel, 
were  sadly  disappointed.  Shortly  after  the  death  of  General 
Harrison,  Mr.  Clay  received  two  remarkable  letters  from  Virginia, 
which  deserve  a  passing  notice.  One  of  them  was  from  a  dis 
tinguished  citizen  of  the  city  of  Richmond,  and  bears  date  the 
4th  of  April,  1841,  the  very  day  on  which  President  Harrison 
expired.  To  the  letter,  the  greater  part  of  which  was  on  business, 
was  appended  a  postscript  to  the  following  effect :  "  We  have 
very  bad  accounts  from  Washington  as  to  the  state  of  General 
Harrison's  health.  His  death  is  seriously  apprehended.  Your 
friend,  Judge  B ,  was  just  now  with  me,  and  says  that  Har 
rison  will  certainly  die  ;  that  Tyler  luck  will  kill  him.  Should  that 
event  happen,  and  Tyler  come  in,  he  will  play  the  devil ;  how,  I 
don't  know :  but  I  am  sure  he  will  play  the  devil  /" 

The  other  letter,  also  from  an  eminent  citizen,  was  dated  the 
7th  of  April,  1841,  at  Williamsburgh,  the  place  of  Mr.  Tyler's 
residence,  and  to  it  was  appended  a  postscript,  substantially  as 
follows  :  "  We  have  just  heard  of  the  death  of  President  Harrison, 
and  I  have  just  seen  Mr.  Tyler,  who  is  to  succeed  him.  I  told 
him  that  it  was  a  great  event,  and  shifted  on  him  an  immense  re 
sponsibility  ;  but  that  if,  upon  going  to  Washington,  he  would 
embrace  some  suitable  occasion  to  announce  to  the  public  that  he 
did  not  mean  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  succession,  he  would  have 
an  easy,  and,  probably  a  successful  administration.  He  remarked, 
in  reply,  that  he  had  just  been  thinking  of  that :  but,"  adds  the 
writer,  "  it  was  manifest  to  me  that  he  had  not  been  thinking  favor 
ably  of  it." 

Notwithstanding  these  predictions  and  expressions  of  distrust, 


HIS    RELATIONS    WITH    JOHN    TYLER.  223 

Mr.  Clay,  in  May,  1841,  proceeded  to  Washington  to  attend  the 
extra  session,  with  a  firm  determination  faithfully  to  perform  his 
own  duty,  and  to  conciliate  Vice- President  Tyler  as  far  as  he 
cotld,  and  engage  him  to  concur  and  co-operate  in  the  adoption 
of  the  public  measures  demanded  by  the  public  welfare,  and  of 
"/hich  an  expectation  was  authorized  by  the  ascendency  of  the 
yhigs  in  the  national  councils. 

Upon  Mr.  Clay's  arrival  at  the  seat  of  government,  he  promptly 
called  on  Mr.  Tyler,  dined  with  him,  frequently  visited  him  at 
tea  in  the  evening,  and,  on  these  occasions,  conversed  with  him 
in  the  most  frank,  friendly,  and  confidential  manner.  During 
those  visits,  the  subject  of  a  bank  of  the  United  States  frequently 
formed  the  topic  of  conversation  ;  and  Mr.  Tyler  declared  that 
he  had  formed  no  opinion  against  one  ;  that  he  would  form  none 
on  the  subject  till  a  bill  should  be  matured,  passed,  and  presented 
to  him  ;  and  that  no  mortal,  in  the  meantime,  should  know  what 
was  to  be  his  final  determination.  And  yet,  notwithstanding 
these  positive  declarations,  Mr.  Clay  had  abundant  reasons  after 
ward  to  believe  that  Mr.  Tyler,  before  the  passage  of  the  bank- 
bill,  had  stated  to  others  that  he  would  approve  no  bank-bill  that 
•could  be  presented  to  him  ! 

In  his  evening  visits  at  the  White-House,  Mr.  Clay  often  met 
suspicious  persons,  who  created  in  his  mind  some  apprehension 
and  alarm.  He,  however,  continued  his  visits  until  the  levee  of 
the  4th  of  July,  which  was  the  last  time  he  ever  entered  the 
presidential  mansion  while  it  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Tyler.  While 
the  bank-bill  was  pending  in  the  senate,  he  reluctantly  consented 
to  the  introduction  into  it  of  the  clause  relating  to  the  branches 
of  the  bank,  providing  for  the  contingency  of  the  assent  or  dissent 
of  the  states  in  which  it  might  be  proposed  to  establish  them. 
He  yielded  to  it  from  two  considerations  :  the  first  was,  that  he 
had  reason  to  believe,  from  communications  received  from  mem 
bers  of  the  cabinet  of  Mr.  Tyler,  that  he  would  certainly  approve 
the  bill  with  that  clause  inserted  ;  the  second  was,  that  without 
it,  the  votes  of  two  senators  could  not  be  obtained,  which  were 
indispensable  to  the  passage  of  the  bill  through  the  senate. 

The  measures  which  Mr.  Clay  regarded  as  important  to  occupy 
the  attention  of  the  extra  session,  were  indicated  by  him  m  a 


224  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

series  of  resolutions  proposed  in  the  early  part  of  the  session 
It  will  be  seen,  upon  an  examination  of  them,  that  the  bankrupt 
bill  was  not  one  of  those  measures.  He  thought  that  the  con 
sideration  of  it  ought  to  be  postponed  to  the  ordinary  session. 
But,  owing  to  the  perseverance  of  Senator  Tallmadge,  of  New 
York,  it  was  finally  agreed  to  act  upon  it.  But  it  can  not  be  re 
garded  as  one  of  Mr.  Clay's  measures,  although  he  cheerfully 
shares  the  responsibility  of  its  passage,  believes  that  it  was 
rendered  necessary  to  individuals  by  the  ruinous  measures  of  the 
two  previous  administrations,  and  that  its  operation,  upon  the 
whole,  was  beneficial  to  the  public. 

Never  did  Mr.  Clay,  and  never,  perhaps,  did  any  other  man 
perform  the  same  amount  of  hard  labor  in  the  same  space  of  time, 
that  he  did  during  that  extra  session.  His  whole  soul  seemed 
engrossed  with  the  duty  of  fulfilling  the  promises  which  the  whig 
party  had  made  to  the  country.  He  declined  almost  all  invitations 
to  dinners  and  entertainments.  His  habit  was  to  rise  as  early  as 
five  o'clock  every  morning,  dash  on  horseback  into  the  country 
six  or  seven  miles,  and  return  to  an  early  breakfast.  From  that 
time  until  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  he  was  constantly  en 
gaged,  either  in  the  preparation  of  business  for  the  senate,  in 
attendance  upon  committees,  or  the  senate  itself,  or  in  consulta 
tion  with  his  political  friends.  During  the  arduous  debate  on  the 
bank-bill,  which  was  continued  several  weeks,  he  was  left  almost 
alone  to  struggle  with  a  host  of  opponents.  On  one  occasion,  he 
had  to  rise  and  answer  seven  of  them,  who  had  assailed  the  bill. 
He  sometimes  felt  as  if  he  were  deserted  by  his  friends,  not  being 
aware  of  what  he  afterward  learned,  that  they  had,  upon  a  con 
ference  among  themselves,  deemed  it  best  to  leave  the  subject  to 
his  exclusive  management. 

We  have  alluded  to  the  visit  of  Mr.  Clay,  in  the  summer  of 
1840,  to  the  humble  spot  in  Hanover  county,  Virginia,  which 
gave  him  birth.  On  this  occasion,  he  was  surprised  to  find  the 
total  change  which  all  the  scenes  of  his  boyhood  had  undergone. 
He  had  not  been  there  for  upward  of  forty-five  years,  and  every 
thing  was  so  altered,  that  he  would  not  have  recognised  the  spot 
had  he  not  been  told  it  was  the  same.  Small  pine-trees,  not 
higher  than  his  head  when  he  left  it,  in  which  the  *  ?ld  fields." 


VISIT    TO    HIS    BIRTHPLACE.  225 

as  they  are  called  in  that  part  of  Virginia,  abound,  had  grown  up 
into  tall  forest-trees.  Orchards  had  disappeared,  and  others  been 
planted  in  their  places.  The  graves  of  his  father,  grandfather 
and  grandmother,  had  been  levelled  and  obliterated  by  the  plough, 
and  the  only  guide  to  the  spot  where  they  reposed,  was  an  old 
stump  of  a  pear-tree,  whose  position  he  recollected.  Peace  to 
their  spirits  !  It  matters  little  to  them  whether  the  ploughshare 
cut  the  turf  above  their  poor  mortal  dust,  or  a  stately  monument 
mark  the  place  of  its  interment. 

The  dwelling-house  alone  remained  without  any  essential 
change  ;  and  tradition  had  carefully  preserved  a  recollection  of 
the  room  in  which  Mr.  Clay  was  born.  He  was  anxious  to  find 
a  hickory-tree,  remarkable  for  the  excellence  of  its  fruit,  which 
stood  near  by  the  spring  that  supplied  his  father's  family  with 
water.  It  no  longer  stood  there  —  it  was  gone  !  Upon  inquiry 
after  it  of  a  friend  in  the  neighborhood,  who  was  possessed  of  a 
somewhat  poetical  imagination,  he  replied,  that  when  General 
Jackson  was  elected  president,  the  tree  withered  ;  and  when  he 
removed  the  deposites  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  it  fell 
decayed  to  the  earth.  Mr.  Clay,  of  course,  laughed  heartily  at 
this  fanciful  account  of  the  fate  of  his  favorite  tree. 

We  turn  from  these  desultory  retrospections  to  the  stirring 
political  events  which  preceded  and  attended  the  presidential 
canvass  of  1844. 

J*  15 


226  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

XXII. 

THE    TEXAS     QUESTION THE    CONTEST    OF    1844. 

MR.  CLAY'S  sojourn  in  Washington,  during  the  spring  of  1844, 
was  one  of  respite  from  the  fatigues  of  travel  and  public  recep 
tions.  On  the  1st  of  May,  he  was  nominated  for  the  presidency 
by  the  whig  national  convention  at  Baltimore,  and  on  the  13th  of 
the  same  month,  he  set  out  for  Ashland,  attended  only  by  his  son, 
and  arrived  at  Lexington  the  evening  of  Saturday,  the  18th,  in 
fine  health  and  spirits.  Here  he  was  enthusiastically  welcomed 
by  an  immense  collection  of  his  fellow-citizens.  In  vain  did  he 
attempt  to  escape  from  the  pageant  of  a  public  reception.  He 
was  compelled  to  listen  to  an  address  of  salutation  and  compli 
ment.  His  reply  was  candid,  good-humored,  and  to  the  point. 
He  told  the  multitude  that  he  was  happy  to  see  them — happy  to 
see  every  one  of  them — "  but  there  was  an  excellent  old  lady  in 
the  neighborhood,  whom  he  would  rather  see  than  any  one 
else  "  —  so,  begging  them  to  allow  him  to  return  to  Ashland,  he 
bade  them  good-night !  This  irresistible  appeal  was  received  in 
the  spirit  in  which  it  was  made  ;  and  amid  the  blaze  of  torches, 
and  the  cheers  of  the  people,  he  was  escorted  to  his  home. 

Events  of  interest  to  the  country  and  to  himself,  had  transpired 
during  the  interval  of  his  absence.  The  question  of  the  annex 
ation  of  Texas,  that  fertile  source  of  many  woes,  had  come  up  ; 
and  he  had  written  a  most  statesmanlike  letter  on  the  subject. 
Discussions  in  regard  to  him  had  been  started  in  Congress,  with 
the  view  of  affecting  his  political  prospects  ;  and  a  whig  conven 
tion,  assembled  at  Baltimore,  had,  on  the  1st  of  May,  1844, 
nominated  Henry  Clay  for  president  of  the  United  States,  and 
Theodore  Frelinghuysen  for  vice-president. 

Mr.  Clay's  letter  on  the  Texas  question,  was  written  while  he 
was  partaking  the  hospitalities  of  Governor  Morehead,  at  Raleigh, 
the  17th  of  April.  In  this  letter,  he  states  the  fact  that,  during 
his  sojourn  in  New  Orleans,  he  had  been  greatly  surprised  by  in 
formation  received  from  Texas,  that  in  the  course  of  the  autumn 
of  1843,  a  voluntary  overture  had  proceeded  from  the  executive 


ANNEXATION    OF    TEXAS.  227 

of  the  United  States  to  the  authorities  of  Texas,  to  conclude  a 
treaty  of  annexation.  To  the  astonishment  of  the  whole  nation, 
we  were  now  informed  that  a  treaty  of  annexation  had  been 
actually  concluded,  and  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  senate  for  its 
consideration.  If,  without  the  loss  of  national  character,  without 
the  hazard  of  foreign  war,  with  the  general  concurrence  of  the 
nation,  without  any  danger  to  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  and 
without  an  unreasonable  price,  the  question  of  annexation  were 
presented,  it  would  appear  in  quite  a  different  light.  Mr.  Clay 
then  enters  upon  a  review  of  our  past  negotiations  in  regard  to 
the  territory  of  Texas,  and  of  the  relations  of  Texas  toward 
Mexico.  And  the  conclusion  at  which  he  arrives  is,  that  if  the 
government  of  the  United  States  were  to  acquire  Texas,  it  would 
acquire  along  with  it  all  the  incumbrances  which  Texas  is  under, 
and  among  them  the  actual  or  suspended  war  between  Mexico 
and  Texas. 

And  here  the  language  of  Mr.  Clay  has  the  emphasis  of  proph 
ecy  :  "  Of  that  conseqnence,"  he  says,  "  there  can  not  be  a 
doubt.  Annexation  and  war  with  Mexico  are  identical."  In  con 
clusion,  he  remarks  :  "  I  consider  the  annexafion  of  Texas,  at 
this  time,  without  the  assent  of  Mexico,  as  a  measure  compro 
mising  the  national  character,  involving  us  certainly  in  war  with 
Mexico,  probably  with  other  foreign  powers,  dangerous  to  the 
integrity  of  the  Union,  inexpedient  in  the  present  financial  con 
dition  of  the  country,  and  not  called  for  by  any  general  expres 
sion  of  public  opinion."  In  a  subsequent  letter,  dated  Ashland, 
July  27,  1844,  and  addressed  to  two  gentlemen  of  Alabama,  Mr. 
Clay  says,  unhesitatingly,  that,  far  from  having  any  personal  objec 
tion  to  the  annexation  of  Texas,  he  should  be  glad  to  see  it,  without 
dishonor;  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  expresses  the  conviction  that 
annexation  at  that  time,  and  under  existing  circumstances,  would 
compromit  the  honor  of  the  country ;  involve  us  in  a  war,  in 
which  the  sympathies  of  all  Christendom  would  be  against  us ; 
and  endanger  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  National  dishonor, 
foreign  war,  and  distraction  and  division  at  home,  were  too  great 
sacrifices  to  make  for  the  acquisition  of  Texas.  He  remarks  in 
this  letter  :  "  I  do  not  think  that  the  subject  of  slavery  ought  to 
affect  the  question  one  way  or  the  other.  Whether  Texas  fcn 


228  IJFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

independent  or  incorporated  in  the  United  States,  I  do  not  be 
lieve  it  Avill  prolong  or  shorten  the  duration  of  that  institution. 
It  is  destined  to  become  extinct  at  some  distant  day,  in  my  opin 
ion,  by  the  operation  of  the  inevitable  laws  of  population." 

As  the  period  for  the  nomination  of  presidential  candidates 
approached,  it  became  more  and  more  apparent  that  the  Texas 
question  was  destined  to  override  all  others  in  the  coming  con 
test.  The  bank,  the  tariff,  and  all  subordinate  matters,  were 
merged  in  the  one  great  issue  of  the  immediate  annexation  of 
Texas.  Among  the  whigs  there  was  a  general  acquiescence  in 
the  views  of  Mr.  Clay  on  the  subject.  Some  persons,  who  en 
tertained  extreme  opinions  as  to  the  feasibility  of  the  immediate 
abolition  of  slavery,  thought  him  too  tolerant ;  and  others,  whose 
interests  inclined  them  a  different  way,  saw,  in  his  opposition  to 
annexation,  hostility  to  the  extension  of  an  institution  which,  it 
was  well-known,  was  always  regarded  as  an  evil.  But  the  great 
body  of  the  whigs  of  the  Union  responded  heartily  to  his  senti 
ments,  and  recognised  the  wisdom  of  his  policy  and  the  patriot 
ism  of  his  motives. 

Soon  after  the  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Webster  from  the  cabinet, 
it  began  to  be  rumored  that  our  government  had  made  overtures 
inviting  application  from  the  authorities  of  Texas  for  its  annexa 
tion  to  the  United  States.  These  overtures,  it  was  said,  were 
at  first  coolly  received  by  President  Houston  ;  but  "  beir  r;  again 
approached,  not  to  say  importuned,  by  the  executive  of  th',  (Jnited 
States,  he  coyly  assented  to  listen  to  proposals."  In  i!iv  mean 
time,  sedulous  efforts  were  made  to  bring  about  that  ?$late  of 
public  opinion  in  this  country  that  should  favor  the  increments 
of  the  friends  of  annexation.  Insidious  appeals  were  multiplied 
throughout  nearly  all  the  democratic  journals,  intended  to  arouse 
the  jealousy  of  our  people  in  regard  to  the  designs  of  foreign 
powers.  It  was  boldly  asserted  that  England  was  intriguing 
with  a  view  of  establishing  a  commercial  ascendency  over  Tex 
as,  and  that  there  was  great  danger  that  the  young  republic 
would  yield  to  the  allurements  which  were  held  out  The  slave 
holding  states  were  called  upon  to  protect  themselves  *g&ir,st  the 
danger  of  so  formidable  a  rival  as  Texas  would  be  tender  the 
protection  of  Great  Britain.  And  then  there  was  the  pet  phrase 


TEXAN    DIPLOMACY.  229 

to  which,  we  believe,  Mr.  Bancroft  first  gave  currency,  of  "  ex 
tending  the  area  of  freedom  !" 

It  now  appears,  from  the  confessions  of  "President  Houston 
and  his  secretary  of  state,  Mr.  Anson  Jones,  that  our  government 
was  not  a  match  for  that  of  Texas  in  diplomacy.  Mr.  Tyler  and 
his  advisers  were  completely  duped  by  the  finesse  of  Messrs. 
Houston  and  Jones.  The  bugbear  of  English  interference  was 
the  most  unsubstantial  of  chimeras,  and  the  arguments  and  asser 
tions  based  upon  it  and  used  for  operating  on  the  minds  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  were  false  and  empty.  Mr.  Anson 
Jones,  in  a  series  of  letters  recently  published  in  the  Galveston 
Civilian,  claims  that  it  was  his  diplomacy  in  bringing  about  the 
needful  state  of  feeling  in  this  country,  which  precipitated  the 
annexation  movement;  that  it  was  the  adroitness  of  Texas  policy 
which  accomplished  an  object  that  might  have  been  delayed  for 
years.  He  at  the  same  time  denies  that  there  was  any  intrigue 
with  foreign  powers  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  United 
States,  or  really  adverse  to  ultimate  annexation.  He  also  makes 
a  declaration  which  throws  light  upon  the  effect  which  the  mode 
of  annexation  had  upon  the  origin  of  the  war.  He  is  of  opinion 
that  the  selection  by  Messrs.  Tyler  and  Calhoun  of  the  house 
resolutions  instead  of  the  senate  amendment  was  extremely  in 
judicious,  and  he  expresses  his  surprise  that  that  alternative 
should  have  been  presented  to  Texas  instead  of  the  other  and 
more  peaceful  mode  presented  in  the  proposition  for  negotiation. 
He  says  that  this  decision  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States  produced  surprise  in  that  of  Texas,  from  the  belief  that 
war  would  immediately  follow ;  whereas,  by  the  senate's  mode  of 
proceeding,  annexation  could  have  been  effected  without  war : 
but  he  says  that  Texas  had  no  option  but  to  accept  the  mode 
selected  by  President  Tyler.  The  joint  resolution  of  the  house 
provided  for  the  admission  of  Texas  into  the  Union  on  certain 
conditions.  The  amendment  of  the  senate,  which  Mr.  Tyler 
chose  to  set  aside,  provided  for  missions  and  negotiations,  for 
the  arrangement  of  terms  of  admission  and  cession. 

The  appeals  and  misrepresentations  of  the  pro-annexation 
party  undoubtedly  had  a  great  effect  upon  that  large  portion  of 
the  people  who  had  neither  leisure  nor  opportunity  to  look  be- 


230  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

hind  the  curtain  and  witness  the  questionable  means  and  motives 
at  work  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  measure  big  with  portents 
of  war,  of  death,  and  slavery.  Could  they  have  seen  the  springs 
which  set  the  pageant  in  motion,  they  might  have  been  disei 
chanted.  The  personal  ambition  of  Mr.  John  Tyler  to  associate 
his  name  with  an  important  movement,  and  to  place  himself  as 
a  prominent  candidate  for  a  second  presidential  term  before  the 
people,  was  the  insignificant  origin  of  that  train  of  national  sins 
and  evils  which  led  to  the  war  with  Mexico.  The  democratic 
convention  and  Mr.  Polk  did  but  steal  Mr.  Tyler's  thunder,  and 
take  up  the  thread  of  his  policy.  The  issue  which  he  chose  to 
make  with  the  opposite  party  and  the  people  was  one  for  which 
Mr.  Tyler  had  provided  for  his  own  ends,  but  which  was  now 
remorselessly  adopted  by  those  who  saw  in  it  an  instrument  for 
operating  upon  the  cupidity,  the  prejudices,  and  the  fears,  of  a 
large  number  of  their  countrymen. 

The  Mexican  authorities  had  emphatically  declared  that  an 
nexation  would  be  regarded  as  an  act  of  war  on  our  part.  Mr. 
Clay  had  expressed  his  belief  that  war  would  inevitably  follow 
the  measure.  Mr.  Van  Buren,  escaping  for  once  from  the  tram 
mels  of  non-committalism,  had  written  a  long  letter  in  decided 
opposition  to  the  project  of  immediate  annexation ;  and  for  this 
he  was  thrown  overboard  by  the  democratic  convention  of  May, 

1844,  who  in  their  resolutions  recommended  the  "re-annexation 
of  Texas,  at  the  earliest  practicable  period,  to  the  cordial  support 
of  the  democracy  of  the  Union."     The  soundness  of  Mr.  Clay's 
riews  on  this  question  has  been  abundantly  verified  in  the  course 
of  events,  though  his  predictions  were  decried  as  chimerical  at 
the  time.     Annexation  was  the  primary,  if  not  the   immediate 
cause,  of  the  war  with  Mexico. 

It  was  while  this  annexation  scheme  was  maturing,  and  all 
the  arts  and  devices  which  chicanery  could  invent  to  reconcile 
public  opinion  were  being  actively  employed,  that  the  conven 
tions  of  the  two  great  parties  of  the  Union  for  the  nomination 
of  candidates  for  the  presidential  term  commencing  in  March, 

1845,  met  at  Baltimore.     The  whig  convention  met  first.     On 
the  1st  of  May,  1844,  the  city  of  Baltimore  presented  an  extra 
ordinary  spectacle.     The  whole  population  seemed  astir,  while 


WHIG    NATIONAL    CONVENTION.  231 

a  new  one,  that  was  almost  to  outnumber  it,  was  pouring  in  on 
all  sides.  At  every  avenue,  railroad-depot,  and  wharf,  wherever 
coaches,  cars,  and  steamboats,  could  disengage  their  passengers, 
there  was  a  scene  of  animation  exhibited  that  bespoke  the  anti 
cipation  of  some  great  event.  There  were  to  be  three  conven 
tions  during  the  week :  the  national  convention  for  the  nomina 
tion  of  a  president  and  vice-president;  the  ratification  convention 
of  whig  young  men  from  all  parts  of  the  Union  ;  and  the  Mary 
land  gubernatorial  convention. 

The  hospitality  of  Baltimore  was  satisfactorily  tested  on  this 
occasion.  An  eye-witness  of  the  scene  which  the  city  pre 
sented  described  it  thus  : — 

"The  whole  place  resembles  a  fair.  Every  street  is  alive  with  people, 
hurrving  to  and  fro  from  the  depots,  crowding  the  sidewalks,  clustering 
round  the  hotels,  chattering,  laughing,  huzzaing.  From  time  to  time,  as 
new  delegations  arrive,  music  sounds,  banners  wave,  and  the  whigs,  with 
.Mger  looks  and  hope,  and  triumph  in  their  eyes,  continue  to  pour  in 
by  thousands  from  the  remotest  quarters  of  the  Union.  Clay  badges  hang 
conspicuously  at  all  button-holes;  Clay  portraits,  Clay  banners,  Clay  rib 
ands,  Clay  songs,  Clay  quicksteps,  Clay  marches,  Clay  caricatures,  meet  the 
eye  in  all  directions.  Oh,  the  rushing,  the  driving,  the  noise,  the  excite- 
mep'!  To  see,  and  hear,  and  feel,  is  glory  enough  for  one  day.  Not  only 
r.re  c.jtels  and  boarding-houses  of  all  grades  and  calibres  already  filled  and 
overflowing,  but  private  dwellings  are  thrown  open  with  that  warm-hearted 
hospitality  which  has  ever  characterized  this  ardent  and  excitable  popula 
tion.  Everybody  is  talking:  some  about  who  is  to  be  vice-president,  but 
more  in  anticipation  of  Thursday's  gala.  The  procession  will  surpass  any 
thing  witnessed  in  this  country." 

On  Wednesday,  the  1st  of  May,  1844,  the  whig  national  con 
vention  for  the  nomination  of  president  and  vice-president  of  the 
United  States  was  held  in  the  universalist  church  in  Calvert 
street.  On  calling  the  list  of  delegates,  it  was  found  that  there 
were  only  two  who  did  not  answer  to  their  names,  and  they 
were  from  the  state  of  Mississippi.  The  promptitude  and  una 
nimity  shown  in  this  full  attendance  was  regarded  as  a  happy 
augury.  The  honorable  Ambrose  Spencer,  of  New  York,  was 
appointed  president  of  the  convention,  assisted  by  vice-presidents 
from  ail  the  states  of  the  Union. 

For  months  there  had  been  no  doubt  or  difference  among  tho 
whigs  as  to  the  nominee.  The  task  of  the  convention  was  not, 
therefore,  an  embarrassing  one.  Mr.  Leigh,  of  Virginia,  rose 
and  remarked  that  the  voice  of  the  whig  party  of  the  country 


232  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

was  so  decidedly  in  favor  of  a  certain  individual  for  the  presi 
dency,  that  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  go  through  the  usual 
forms  of  a  nomination.  He  then  offered  a  resolution,  declaring 
HENRY  CLAY,  of  Kentucky,  to  be  unanimously  chosen  as  the 
whig  candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States,  and  that 
'f^  J->e  recommended  to  the  people  as  such.  This  resolution  was 
adopted  by  acclamation  amid  loud  and  prolonged  tokens  of  en 
thusiasm  and  appla.use.  A  committee,  composed  of  Messrs. 
Berrien  of  Georgia,  Barnett  of  Ohio,  Archer  of  Virginia,  Law 
rence  of  Massachusetts,  and  Erastus  Root  of  New  York,  was 
appointed  to  wait  on  Mr.  Clay  and  inform  him  of  his  nomination. 
On  a  proposition  being  made  that  Mr.  Clay,  who  was  in  Wash 
ington,  should  appear  in  Baltimore  the  next  day,  "  before  the 
countless  thousands  who  would  then  be  assembled  to  ratify  the 
nomination,"  a  letter  was  read  from  Mr.  Clay,  in  which  he  briefly 
said,  that  he  could  not  reconcile  it  writh  his  sense  of  delicacy 
and  propriety  to  attend  either  of  the  whig  conventions  that  week 
in  Baltimore. 

The  choice  of  the  convention  for  vice-president  fell  upon  the 
honorable  THEODORE  FRELINGHUYSEN,  of  New  Jersey.  The 
result  of  the  first  ballot  taken,  showed  275  votes,  of  which  138 
were  necessary  to  a  choice.  John  Sergeant,  of  Pennsylvania. 
had  38 ;  Millard  Fillmore,  of  New  York,  53  ;  John  Davis,  of 
Massachusetts,  83  ;  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  101.  The  result 
of  the  second  vote  was  :  for  John  Sergeant,  32  ;  Millard  Fill- 
more,  57;  John  Davis,  74;  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  118. 
The  result  of  the  third  vote  was  :  for  John  Davis,  76  ;  for  Mil 
lard  Fillmore,  40;  for  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  155.  So  it 
was  announced  that  THEODORE  FRELINGHUYSEN,  having  re 
ceived  a  majority  of  all  the  votes  given,  was  the  candidate  of 
the  convention  for  the  office  of  vice-president  of  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Frelinghuysen  had  been  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States 
and  he  deservedly  possessed  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  the 
whigs  to  the  fullest  extent.  He  had,  however,  become  identified 
with  an  important  religious  sect,  at  whose  Bible  anniversaries 
and  missionary  meetings  he  was  frequently  an  act:ve  and  in 
fluential  attendant  He  was  known  to  belong  to  the  presbyterian 


RATIFICATION    CONVENTION.  233 

denomination  of  Christians ;  and  this  circumstance,  while  it 
brought  over  few  additions  to  the  whig  ranks,  was  destined  to 
be  used  with  great  effect  in  prejudicing  the  minds  of  Roman 
catholics  and  adopted  citizens  generally  against  the  whig  pres 
idential  ticket. 

On  the  2d  of  May,  the  day  after  the  whig  nominations  had 
been  made  the  "  ratification  convention,"  composed  principally 
of  whig  young  men  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  had  their  pro 
cession  and  their  meetings.  "  This  was,  beyond  doubt,"  says  an 
eyewitness,  "the  largest  and  most  imposing  political  assemblage 
that  over  convened  in  the  United  States.  Every  state  of  the 
Union  was  represented,  and  several  of  them  by  thousands  of 
delegates  ;  an  assemblage  of  distinguished  statesmen  from  one 
extreme  of  the  Union  to  the  other,  was  congregated,  not  of  young 
men  only,  but  veterans  in  their  country's  service.  The  vener 
able  Ambrose  Spencer,  the  associate  of  Jefferson  in  his  most 
ardent  political  struggle,  was  greeted  by  others  of  the  same  school 
from  the  east,  west,  north,  and  south.  Webster  and  Berrien 
were  there  ;  Crittenden  and  Clayton,  George  Evans  from  Maine, 
Thomas  Ewing  from  Ohio,  Morehead  from  Kentucky.  Eleven 
ex-governers  of  the  states  attended  the  convention." 

We  must  refer  the  curious  reader  to  the  newspapers  of  the 
period  for  a  full  description  of  the  great  political  pageant  of  the 
ratification.  The  procession  through  the  principal  streets  of 
Baltimore,  was  as  remarkable  for  its  numbers  as  for  the  en 
thusiasm  of  which  it  was  the  index.  "  It  would  be  in  vain," 
writes  one  who  witnessed  it,  "  to  attempt  an  enumeration  of  the 
banners  or  their  devices :  this,  I  suppose,  will  all  be  minutely 
recorded  by  some  modern  Froissart.  Some  of  them  were  splen 
did  in  the  highest  degree,  especially  the  grand  national  prize 
banner,  which  was  placed  upon  a  high,  tasteful  car,  drawn  by  four 
white  horses.  There  were  numerous  likenesses  of  Henry  Clay, 
some  of  them  very  exquisitely  painted,  and  in  various  degrees 
approximating  a  resemblance  of  the  original,  whose  true  face, 
however,  has  never  yet  been  presented,  save  to  those  who  have 
looked  upon  the  living  original.  The  truth  is,  that  Mr.  Clay's 
countenance  varies  so  exceedingly  in  its  expression,  according  to 
the  circumstances  in  which  he  is  placed,  that  could  it  be  struck 


234  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

into  marble  at  any  one  moment,  those  who  had  seen  him  only 
when  in  a  different  mood,  would  find  fault  with  it  as  no  likeness. 
The  favorite  was  here  shown  up  in  various  phases  :  sometimes 
as  a  statesman,  seated,  and  surrounded  by  books  and  papers : 
sometimes  as  the  farmer  of  Ashland,  in  a  rural  scene,  with  cattle, 
plough,  and  implements  of  husbandry  ;  again,  as  '  father  of  the 
American  system,'  with  emblems  of  home  industry  round  him  ; 
often  under  the  protection  of  the  eagle  of  his  country  ;  and  oftener 
between  allegorical  figures  of  wisdom,  justice,  and  all  manner 
of  virtues  ;  and  in  several  cases  as  the  favored  of  his  country 
men,  who  lean  upon  his  portrait  with  smiles,  or  point  to  him  as 
their  benefactor.  Had  Mr.  Clay  been  present,  he  might  be  said, 
parodying  the  line  of  Gray,  to  read  his  history  in  a  nation's 
banners." 

At  this  second  convention,  the  Hon.  John  M.  Clayton  of  Dela 
ware,  presided.  Judge  Berrien,  from  the  committee  appointed 
at  the  nominating  convention  to  communicate  to  Mr.  Clay  the  in 
telligence  of  their  choice,  read  the  letter  of  the  committee,  and 
Mr.  Clay's  reply.  "  Confidently  believing,"  says  Mr.  Clay,  "  that 
this  nomination  is  in  conformity  with  the  desire  of  a  majority  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  I  accept  it,  from  a  high  sense 
of  duty,  and  with  feelings  of  profound  gratitude."  Mr.  Webster, 
having  been  called  for,  addressed  the  meeting  eloquently  in  be 
half  of  the  nominations,  remarking  that  all  the  indications  of 
public  sentiment,  in  all  quarters,  had  proclaimed  that  Mr.  Clay, 
of  all  the  rest,  was  the  man  on  whom,  upon  this  occasion,  the 
voice  of  the  country  had  concentrated.  The  ratification  conven 
tion,  after  the  adoption  of  appropriate  resolutions,  adjourned 
sine  die. 

The  day  after  their  adjournment,  a  letter  from  Mr.  Clay,  dated 
Washington,  May  3,  1844,  was  addressed  to  the  National  Intelli 
gencer,  in  which,  by  way  of  reply  to  the  numerous  invitations 
poured  in  upon  him  to  visit  his  fellow-citizens  at  various  points 
of  the  Union,  he  says  :  "  Hereafter,  and  until  the  pending  presi 
dential  election  is  decided,  I  can  not  accept  nor  attend  any  public 
meeting  of  my  fellow-citizens,  assembled  in  reference  to  that  ob 
ject,  to  which  I  may  have  been  or  shall  be  invited.  It  is  my 
wish  and  intention,  when  I  leave  this  city,  to  return  home  as 


NOMINATION    OF    JAMES    K.    POLK.  235 

quietly  and  quickly  as  possible,  and,  employing  myself  in  my 
private  business  and  affairs,  there  to  await  the  decision  of  the 
presidential  election,  acquiescing  in  it,  whatever  it  may  be,  with 
the  most  perfect  submission." 

Twenty-six  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  convention  which 
nominated  Mr.  Clay,  there  were  two  more  political  conventions 
in  Baltimore,  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  presidential  candi 
dates.  One  of  these  met  on  the  27th  of  May,  in  the  Odd- 
Fellows'  hall,  north  Gay  street ;  and,  after  a  rather  stormy 
session  of  three  days,  nominated,  to  the  surprise  of  everybody, 
Mr.  James  K.  Polk  of  Tennessee,  for  the  presidency.  The  next 
day,  Mr.  George  M.  Dallas  of  Pennsylvania,  was  nominated  by 
the  same  body  for  the  vice-presidency ;  Silas  Wright,  of  New 
York,  having  declined  the  nomination.  The  other  presidential 
convention  to  which  we  have  referred,  met  in  another  part  of  the 
city,  also  on  the  27th,  and,  with  extraordinary  unanimity,  nomi 
nated  Mr.  John  Tyler  for  the  presidency. 

At  an  early  stage  in  the  proceedings  of  the  democratic  con 
vention,  a  proposition  was  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Saunders,  of 
North  Carolina,  requiring  a  two-third  vote  to  make  a  nomination. 
This  was  a  fatal  blow  at  the  prospects  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and 
his  friends  vehemently  opposed  the  proposition.  Mr.  Benjamin 
F.  Butler  of  New  York,  the  most  active  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  ad 
herents,  declared  that  he  knew  well  that  in  voting  by  simple 
majority,  the  friend  he  was  pledged  to  support  would  receive  a 
majority  of  from  ten  to  fifteen,  and  consequently  the  nomination. 
If  two  thirds  should  be  required  to  make  a  choice,  that  friend 
must  inevitably  be  defeated,  and  that  defeat  caused  by  the  action 
of  states  that  could  not  be  claimed  as  democratic.  But,  notwith 
standing  the  remonstrances  of  Mr.  Butler  and  others,  the  two- 
third  rule  was  agreed  upon  by  a  vote  of  148  to  118.  After  seven 
ballotings,  in  which  Messrs.  Van  Buren  and  Cass  received  the 
greater  number  of  votes  out  of  seven  candidates,  it  began  to  be 
apparent  that  the  friends  of  the  annexation  policy  were  destined 
to  carry  the  day.  Mr.  Young,  of  New  York,  remarked  that  "  a 
firebrand  had  been  thrown  into  their  camp  by  the  mongrel  ad 
ministration  at  Washington,  and  this  was  the  motive  seized  upon 
as  a  pretext  for  a  change  on  the  part  of  some  gentlemen.  That 


236  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAT. 

firebrand  was  the  abominable  Texas  question — but  that  question, 
like  a  fever,  would  wear  itself  out,  or  kill  the  patient ." 

In  his  letter  of  April  23,  1844,  to  a  committee  in  Cincinnati, 
Mr.  Polk  had  remarked  :  "  I  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring  that 
I  am  in  favor  of  the  immediate  re-annexation  of  Texas  to  the  ter 
ritory  and  government  of  the  United  States."  There  could  not 
be  a  doubt  that  it  was  for  their  views  on  this  question,  henceforth 
to  be  made  the  predominant  one,  that  Mr.  Martin  Van  Buren  was 
abandoned  and  Mr.  Polk  adopted  as  the  candidate.  "  Let  Texas 
be  the  watchword,"  said  General  Jackson,  subsequently,  in  his 
letter  of  June  14,  1844,  "and  victory  is  certain." 

As  for  the  Tyler  convention,  it  was  never  regarded  in  any  other 
light  than  as  a  joke  by  the  intelligent.  The  democratic  party, 
thinking  they  could  use  Mr.  Tyler  for  their  own  peculiar  ends, 
tried  to  preserve  their  gravity  upon  the  subject  and  look  serious  ; 
they  succeeded  pretty  well  in  this  until  they  had  no  further  use 
for  the  renegade,  and  then  their  laughter,  long  suppressed,  burst 
forth  :  and  they  have  ever  since  extended  no  other  notice  than 
that  of  derision  to  Mr.  Tyler  and  his  friends.  This  convention 
was  composed,  in  a  great  measure,  of  men  with  little  political  or 
any  other  character  to  boast  of.  Its  results  were  impotent  and 
abortive.  After  affording  amusement  to  paragraphists  and  news 
paper  readers  ;  after  Mr.  Tyler  had  been  nominated,  and  had 
accepted  the  nomination,  the  farce  ended  with  the  formal  with 
drawal  of  his  name  from  the  list  of  candidates  before  the  people. 

And  now  the  war  of  calumny,  misrepresentation,  and  abuse, 
which  had  been  waged  in  years  past  against  Mr.  Clay,  was  re 
vived  in  all  its  virulence.  That  staple  article  of  electioneering 
slander,  the  old  coalition  story,  was  manufactured  anew  for  the  mar 
ket,  with  variations  to  suit  the  taste  of  a  new  generation.  Shortly 
before  the  meeting  of  the  whig  convention,  Mr.  Linn  Boyd  of 
Kentucky,  had  introduced  the  subject  on  the  floor  of  the  house 
of  representatives.  It  would  be  tedious  to  quote  his  citations  of 
exploded  calumnies,  and  show  how  and  when  their  utter  false 
hood  was  proved.  The  conclusion  at  which  Mr.  Boyd  arrives, 
after  taking  for  granted  that  all  the  nailed  slanders  against  Mr 
Clay  are  established  verities,  is  simply  this  :  "  Although,"  h« 
%ays,  "  impartial  men  may  believe,  as  I  do  myself,  that  thers  was 


OLD    SLANDERS    REVIVED.  237 

no  technical  bargain  entered  into  between  Mr.  Adams  and  Mr. 
Clay  in  their  own  proper  persons,  yet  it  does  seem  to  me  that  no 
one,  free  from  prejudice,  can  carefully  examine  the  circumstances 
and  evidences  in  the  case,  without  the  most  thorough  conviction 
that  it  was  understood  by  the  parties  that  Mr.  Clay's  appointment 
to  the  office  of  secretary  of  state,  would  result  from  the  election 
of  Mr.  Adams."  Truly,  a  lame  and  impotent  conclusion!  As 
lame  and  impotent — if  we  may  borrow  an  illustration  applied  to 
a  different  case  —  as  it  would  be  should  some  political  adversary 
accuse  Mr.  Boyd  of  murder,  and,  on  being  called  on  for  an  ex 
planation,  should  say  :  "  Although  impartial  men  may  believe,  as 
I  do  myself,  that  there  was  no  technical  murder  committed  by  Mr. 
Boyd  in  his  own  proper  person,  yet  it  does  seem  to  me  that  he 
has  made  a  slaughterous  attempt  upon  the  king's  English."  By 
his  own  admission,  Mr.  Boyd  fully  exculpates  Mr.  Clay. 

"Sir,"  said  Mr.  "Webster,  in  his  speech  of  Jairaary,  1830,  on  Mr.  Foot's 
resolution,  "  this  charge  of  a  coalition  in  reference  to  the  late  administration, 
is  not  original  with  the  honorable  member.  It  did  not  spring  up  in  the 
senate.  Whether  as  a  fact,  as  an  argument,  or  as  an  embellishment,  it  is  all 
borrowed.  He  adopts  it,  indeed,  from  a  very  low  origin,  and  a  still  lower 
present  condition.  It  is  one  of  the  thousand  calumnies  with  which  the  press 
teemed  during  an  excited  political  canvass.  It  was  a  charge,  of  which  there 
was  not  only  no  proof  or  probability,  but  which  was,  in  itself,  wholly  im 
possible  to  be  true.  No  man  of  common  information  ever  believed  a  syllable 
of  it.  Yet  it  was  of  that  class  of  falsehoods  which,  by  continued  repetition, 
through  all  the  organs  of  detraction  and  abuse,  are  capable  of  misleading 
those  who  are  already  far  misled;  and  of  further  fanning  passions  already 
kindled  into  flame.  Doubtless  it  served  in  its  day,  and  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  the  end  designed  by  it.  Having  done  that,  it  has  sunk  into  the  mass 
of  stale  and  loathsome  calumnies.  It  is  the  very  cast-off  slough  of  a  polluted 
and  shameless  press.  Incapable  of  further  mischief,  it  lies  in  the  sewer,  life 
less  and  despised.  It  is  not  now,  sir,  in  the  power  of  the  honorable  member 
to  give  it  dignity  or  decency,  by  attempting  to  elevate  it,  and  to  introduce 
it  into  the  senate.  He  can  not  change  it  from  what  it  is — an  object  of  gen 
eral  disgust  and  scorn.  On  the  contrary,  the  contact,  if  he  choose  to  touch 
it,  is  more  likely  to  drag  him  down,  down  to  the  place  where  it  lies  itself." 

In  the  autumn  of  1844,  an  interesting  communication  was  made 
to  the  public  by  Mr.  B.  W.  Leigh,  of  Virginia,  on  the  subject  of 
this  old  galvanized  slander.  For  some  twenty  years,  the  traducers 
of  Mr.  Clay  in  that  state,  had  made  frequent  mysterious  allusions 
to  a  correspondence,  the  publication  of  which  they  loudly  de 
manded.  Mr.  Clay's  reluctance  to  consent  to  the  publication, 
originating  solely  in  motives  of  delicacy  the  most  honorable,  was 


238  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

publicly  attributed  by  those  who  well  knew  every  syllable  of  tha 
correspondence,  to  fears  of  exposure,  and  referred  to  as  an  ad 
mission  of  guilt.  The  very  men  who  dreaded  the  publication 
lest  it  should  expose  the  hollowness  and  insincerity  of  their  ac 
cusations,  clamored  for  it  in  the  reliance,  which  for  many  year 
proved  not  unfounded,  that  Mr.  Clay  would  never  consent  to  vin 
dicate  himself  by  the  simple  means  which  they  defied  him  t< 
adopt. 

Sometime  during  the  summer  of  1844,  Mr.  Clay  sent  copie 
of  these  letters,  which  his  enemies  made  the  basis  of  their  vagu< 
and  unprincipled  charges,  to  Mr.  Leigh  ;  and,  in  giving  them  t 
the  world,  that  gentleman  remarks  :  — 

"If  I  am  rightly  informed,  no  application  has  ever  been  made  directly  t 
Mr.  Clay  by  Mr.  Blair  or  Mr.  Linn  Boyd,  or  by  any  other  of  that  party,  t 

consent  to  the  publication  of  these  letters Overcome  by  the  earnes 

entreaties  of  his  friends  in  Virginia,  Mr.  Clay  has  reluctantly  consented  t 
the  publication  (if  they  think  it  proper)  of  these  letters,  private  and  confi 
dential  as  they  are,  and  even  playful  and  sportive  in  their  charactei 

Knowing,  as  he  must  have  known,  that  the  publication  couL 

only  be  beneficial  to  him,  he  has  yet  patiently  endured  all  the  calumnie 
which  have  been  founded  on  the  letters.  I  now  publish  them,  in  order  t 
put  down,  effectually  and  for  ever,  a  vile  charge,  which  has  been  revived  afte 
having  been  completely  refuted,  and  which  has  been  revived  here  in  Vii 
ginia,  in  the  hope  that  the  letters,  after  so  long  a  delay,  would  not  be  put 
lished." 

From  one  of  these  letters,  dated  January  29,  1825,  we  quote  ; 
few  passages,  to  show  that  even  in  the  informal  freedom  oi 
familiar  correspondence,  Mr.  Clay's  objections  to  the  elevatior 
of  a  military  chieftain,  with  purely  military  claims,  to  the  chiel 
magistracy,  would  break  forth  with  spontaneous  earnestness  ant 
force  : — 

*  -x-  *  "The  knaves  can  not  comprehend  how  a  man  can  be  honest 
They  can  not  conceive  that  I  should  have  solemnly  interrogated  my  conscience 
and  asked  it  to  tell  me  seriously  what  I  ought  to  do! — that  it  should  hav« 
enjoined  me  not  to  establish  the  dangerous  precedent  of  elevating,  in  thi 
early  stage  of  the  republic,  a  military  chieftain  merely  because  he  has  won  < 
great  victory !  I  am  afraid  that  you  will  think  me  moved  by  these  abuses 
Be  not  deceived.  I  assure  you  that  I  never,  in  my  whole  life,  felt  more  per 
feet  composure,  more  entire  confidence  in  the  resolutions  of  my  judgment 
and  a  more  unshaken  determination  to  march  up  to  my  duty.  And,  mj 
dear  sir,  is  there  an  intelligent  and  unbiased  man,  who  must  not,  sooner  01 
later,  concur  with  me?  Mr.  Adams,  you  know  well,  I  should  never  hav< 
selected,  if  at  liberty  to  draw  from  the  whole  mass  of  our  citizens  for  a  pres 
ident  Bat  there  is  no  danger  in  his  elevation  now,  or  in  time  to  come 
Kot  so  of  his  competitor,  of  whom  I  can  not  believe  that  killing  twenty-fiv< 


POLITICAL    CHIFFONIERS.  239 

hundred  Englishmen  at  New  Orleans  qualifies  him  for  the  various,  difficult, 
and  complicated  duties  of  the  chief  magistracy.  I  perceive  that  I  am  un 
consciously  writing  a  sort  of  defence,  which  you  may  probably  think  im 
plies  guilt.  'What  will  be  the  result?'  you  will  ask  with  curiosity,  if  not 
anxiety.  I  think  Mr.  Adams  must  be  elected ;  such  is  the  prevailing  opin 
ion.  Still  I  shall  not  consider  the  matter  as  certain,  until  the  election  is 
over." 

In  a  card,  which  bears  date  the  3d  of  May,  1844,  General 
Jackson  reaffirmed  the  charge  of  "  bargain  and  corruption"  in  a 
."manner  which  showed  that  age  had  not  blunted  the  vindictive 
asperities  of  his  nature.  General  James  Hamilton,  in  a  letter 
growing  out  of  this  card,  dated  the  26th  of  the  same  month,  re 
marks  :  "  It  would,  in  my  humble  opinion,  have  been  an  act  of 
supererogation  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Clay  to  have  made  a  bargain 
for  what,  by  the  force  and  gravity  of  political  causes  and  geo 
graphical  considerations,  was  inevitable  without  either  his  crime 
or  his  participation  —  an  offer  of  a  seat  in  Mr.  Adams's  cabinet. 
*  *  *  *  I  sincerely  believe  that  Mr.  Clay's  acceptance  of 
the  office  that  subjected  him  to  such  obloquy  was  the  result  of  a 
sense  of  the  duty  which  he  owed  to  the  country,  to  aid  by  his 
counsels  him  whom  he  had  assisted  to  place  in  power." 

The  pertinacious  industry  with  which  this  putrid  calumny  has 
been  raked  up  by  political  chiffoniers  from  the  kennel  where  it 
has  been  repeatedly  cast,  "  like  a  dead  dog  despised,"  can  only 
be  accounted  for  by  the  fact,  that  Mr.  Clay's  whole  career,  pub 
lic  and  private,  will  bear  the  strictest  scrutiny  of  honor  and 
patriotism.  He  was  never  one  of  those  accommodating  states 
men,  who,  starting  with  the  assumption  that  "  all  is  fair  in  poli 
tics,"  have  one  conscience  for  their  public  and  another  for  their 
private  acts  ;  who  look  upon  deceptions  and  intrigues  that  would 
be  contemptible  in  the  man  of  business  or  of  society  as  very 
venial  in  the  politician.  In  the  lack  of  other  points,  therefore, 
for  attack  in  his  public  history,  this  miserable  suspicion — for,  in 
its  most  specious  state,  the  slander  could  never  rise  above  the 
dignity  of  a  suspicion — was  selected  as  the  one  vulnerable  spot. 

It  has  been  truly  remarked  that  "  there  is  no  example  in  the 
records  of  detraction  and  calumny  of  such  persevering,  rancor 
ous,  and  malignant  attacks,  as  those  which  have  been  directed 
against  Mr.  Clay  during  the  last  twenty  years,  because  of  the 
fact  that  he  did  not  deem  it  his  duty,  acting  either  upon  his  own 


240  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

judgment,  or  in  conformity  with  the  wishes  of  his  constituents, 
whom  he  represented  in  the  house  of  representatives,  to  cast  his 
vote  for  General  Jackson  as  president  of  the  United  States." 
Nor  were  these  attacks  confined  to  his  public  character  and  life. 
The  domestic  fireside  was  invaded.  The  social  circle  was  not 
held  sacred.  Mr.  Clay  was  denounced  as  a  gambler,  a  sabbath- 
breaker,  and  a  profane  swearer.  Stories  the  most  unfounded, 
charges  the  most  imaginary,  were  busily  circulated  by  the  oppo 
sition,  in  newspapers  and  pamphlets,  holding  him  up  as  a  man 
to  be  distrusted  by  the  religious  portion  of  the  community.  It 
is  unnecessary  to  recapitulate  and  refute  these  libels.  They 
served  their  purpose,  doubtless  ;  and  any  exposure  of  their  utter 
falsehood,  however  thorough  and  irresistible  it  might  be,  would 
not  prevent  their  revival,  whenever  it  might  answer  the  ends  of 
the  profligate  and  the  designing  to  give  them  currency.  "  False 
hood,"  said  Mr.  Clayton,  of  Delaware,  in  a  speech  delivered 
some  six  weeks  before  the  presidential  election — "falsehood  is 
now  the  order  of  the  day.  Perhaps  the  world  before  never  ex 
hibited  more  disgraceful  spectacles  of  reckless  mendacity  for 
political  purposes." 

Mr.  Clay's  professional  labors  were  not  interrupted  in  conse 
quence  of  his  nomination.  Soon  after  his  return  to  Kentucky  he 
engaged  in  an  important  law  case,  in  which  he  displayed  as 
much  zeal  and  watchfulness  in  behalf  of  the  interests  of  his 
client  as  if  he  had  just  entered  upon  the  practice  of  the  law,  and 
was  struggling  to  gain  his  first  suit. 

But  now  the  eventful  moment  that  was  to  influence  the  fate  of 
the  country  for  years  —  perhaps  for  centuries  —  was  at  hand. 
Never  before  were  vast  bodies  of  the  American  people  so  in 
tensely  interested  in  a  political  result  as  in  that  of  the  presiden 
tial  election  of  November,  1844.  It  came  at  last,  and  with 
crushing  effect,  to  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands,  who 
had  hoped  and  wished  well  for  the  republic.  Mr.  Clay  was 
defeated — but  defeated  under  circumstances  far  less  mortifying 
to  him  than  such  a  triumph  as  that  achieved  by  his  opponent, 
Mr.  Polk,  would  have  been.  He  was  defeated  by  the  grossest 
and  most  reckless  frauds  that  were  ever  perpetrated  by  the  prac 
tical  enemies  of  republican  liberty.  These  frauds  were  alone 


RESULT    OF    THE    ELECTION.  5*41 

sufficient  to  prevent  the  true  verdict  of  the  people  from  being 
rendered :  but,  conjoined  with  other  impositions,  they  lead  us 
irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that,  could  an  honest  expression  of 
the  public  will  hare  been  obtained,  it  would  have  been  in  favor 
of  Mr.  Clay  by  a  vast  preponderance,  not  only  of  the  intelli 
gence,  but  of  the  legal  voters  of  the  country.  Indeed,  had  the 
illegal  votes  that  were  polled  in  the  state  of  New  York  alone 
been  cast  aside,  Mr.  Clay  would  have  been  the  president  of  the 
United  States.  We  shall  have  more  to  say  hereafter  of  the 
means  by  which  the  legitimate  expression  of  the  popular  will 
was  rendered  null  and  void. 

The  effect  of  this  great  defeat  upon  the  whig  party  was  dis 
heartening  in  the  extreme.  You  would  have  thought  some  stu 
pendous  public  calamity  had  occurred,  to  have  seen  the  signs  of 
deep,  sincere  grief  written  upon  the  majority  of  honest,  intelli 
gent  faces.  Manifestations  of  sorrow  and  of  attachment  the  most 
touching  were  offered  to  Mr.  Clay.  A  profound  sigh  seemed  to 
be  wrung  from  the  nation's  heart.  Tears,  such  as  Cato  might 
have  wept,  were  shed  from  manly  eyes  ;  and  many  of  its  truest 
friends  began  to  despair  of  the  republic.  Innumerable  were  the 
letters  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  filled  with  patriotic  regrets, 
that  found  their  way  to  Ashland.  Most  of  these  were  from  per 
sonal  strangers  ;  some  from  acquaintances. 

"  I  have  sustained  many  severe  losses  of  dear  friends,"  writes 
one;  "but  nothing  has  hurt  me  like  this.  Oh,  God!  is  there 
no  constitutional  provision  by  which  illegal  votes  can  be  purged 
out,  and  the  legally  elected  president  restored  to  this  nation  ?" 

"  I  have  thought  for  three  or  four  days,"  says  another  corre 
spondent,  "  that  I  would  write  you ;  but,  really,  I  am  unmanned. 
All  is  gone  !  I  see  nothing  but  despair  depicted  on  every  coun 
tenance.  I  confess  that  nothing  has  happened  to  shake  my  con 
fidence  in  our  ability  to  sustain  a  free  government  so  much  as 
this.  A  cloud  of  gloom  hangs  over  the  future.  May  God  save 
the  country !" 

Another  writes  :  "  What  a  wound  has  been  inflicted  upon  the 
honor  and  interests  of  the  country  !     I  pray  God  that  truth  may 
yet  prevail,  and  our  republican  institutions  be  saved." 
K  16 


242  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"  I  write  with  an  aching  heart,"  is  the  language  of  another 
letter,  "  and  ache  it  must.  God  Almighty  save  us  !  Although 
our  hearts  are  broken  and  bleeding,  and  our  bright  hopes  are 
crushed,  we  feel  proud  of  our  candidate.  God  bless  you!  Your 
countrymen  do  bless  you.  All  know  how  to  appreciate  the  mai 
who  has  stood  in  the  first  rank  of  American  patriots.  Thougl 
unknown  to  you,  you  are  by  no  means  a  stranger  to  me." 

An  American  in  London  writes,  under  date  of  November  27, 
1844  :  "  I  will  not  lose  a  moment  in  conveying  to  you  the  heart 
felt  emotion,  amazement,  and  grief,  with  which  I  received  the 
news,  just  arrived,  of  the  result  of  the  presidential  election. 
Great  God  !  is  it  possible  ?  Have  our  people  given  this  aston 
ishing,  this  alarming  proof,  of  the  madness  to  which  party  frenzy 
can  carry  them  ?  The  hopes  of  the  wise  and  the  good,  in  the 
New  and  the  Old  World,  rested  upon  you.  But  my  heart  is 
sick.  May  God  for  ever  bless  you  !" 

These  extracts  will  convey  to  the  future  reader  but  a  feeble 
impression  of  that  general  feeling  of  chagrin  and  despondency 
which  was  maniifested  throughout  the  United  States  at  the  re 
sult  of  the  election  of  1844.  It  was  not  a  feeling,  the  offspring 
of  selfish  disappointment,  of  wounded  pride,  or  defeated  partisan 
ship  ;  but  one  arising  from  regrets  the  most  purely  patriotic  and 
disinterested  that  our  fallible  nature  can  cherish — regrets  spring 
ing  from  the  most  devoted  love  of  country,  the  most  single-hearted 
attachment  to  our  system  of  government,  the  most  entire  faith  in 
the  goodness  and  worth  of  republican  liberty.  Letters  without 
number  from  the  mothers  and  daughters  of  the  land  were  also 
addressed  to  Mr.  Clay,  indicative  of  the  wide-spread  affliction 
which  had  been  produced  by  his  defeat.  Numerous  testimonials 
of  the  unabated  affection  and  admiration  with  which  he  was  re 
garded  were  presented.  The  ladies  of  Virginia  held  meetings 
and  formed  an  association,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Mrs.  Lucy 
Barbour,  for  procuring  by  voluntary  subscription  a  statue  to  his 
honor.  Their  efforts  were  crowned  with  the  most  complete  suc 
cess.  Addresses  from  large  bodies  of  his  fellow-citizens  in 
evcrv  state  of  the  Union  bore  to  him  the  fullest  assurance  that 
he  was  still  first  in  their  esteem,  and  that  the  untoward  result  of 
the  contest  had  not  affected  their  convictions  of  the  fact  that  a 


ADDRESS    OF    THE    KENTUCKY    ELECTORS.  243 

large  majority  of  the  legal  voters  of  the  United  States  were  in 
favor  of  him  and  his  policy. 

The  presidential  electors  of  Kentucky,  having  discharged  the 
duty  intrusted  to  them  by  the  people,  determined,  before  separa 
ting,  to  wait  upon  Mr.  Clay  in  a  body,  and  tender  him  a  declara 
tion  of  their  high  esteem  for  him  as  a  private  citizen,  and  their 
undiminished  confidence  in  his  exalted  patriotism  and  superior 
statesmanship.  No  public  notice  had  been  given  of  their  inten 
tion  to  visit  Ashland,  and  Mr.  Clay  himself  was  not  made  ac 
quainted  with  it  until  a  few  hours  before  their  arrival.  He  met 
them  at  his  door,  and,  after  an  exchange  of  greetings,  Judge 
Underwood,  on  behalf  of  the  electors,  addressed  him  in  a  brief 
and  eloquent  speech,  to  which  Mr.  Clay  responded.  Both  the 
address  and  the  reply  possess  such  intrinsic  and  enduring  inter 
est,  that  we  copy  them  entire  : — 

"Ms,  CLAY  :  I  have  been  selected  by  the  members  of  our  electoral  college 
to  say  to  you  for  each  one  of  us,  that  we  have  come  to  offer  you  the  homage 
of  our  personal  regard  and  profound  respect.  In  this  work  of  the  heart, 
many  of  your  neighbors  have  likewise  come  to  unite  with  us.  On  yester 
day,  at  Frankfort,  we  performed  our  official  duty  in  obedience  to  the  will 
of  the  people  of  Kentucky,  by  voting  unanimously  for  yourself  and  Theodore 
Frelinghuysen  to  fill  the  offices  of  president  and  vice-president  of  the  United 
States. 

"The  machinations  of  your  enemies,  their  frauds  upon  the  elective  fran 
chise,  and  their  duplicity  with  the  people,  in  promulgating  opposite  prmci 
pies  in  different  sections,  have  defeated  your  election. 

"  We  have  no  hope  of  preferment  at  your  hands,  which  can  tempt  us  to 
flatter,  nor  can  the  pen  of  proscription  intimidate  us  in  speaking  the  truth. 
Under  existing  circumstances  it  gratifies  us  to  take  you  by  the  hand,  and  tc 
unite,  as  we  do  most  cordially,  in  expressing  the  sentiments  of  our  hearta 
and  of  those  we  represent  in  regard  to  your  personal  character  and  political 
principles. 

"Your  past  services  are  so  interwoven  with  the  history  of  our  country 
for  the  last  forty  years,  that  malice  and  envy  can  not  prevent  succeeding 
generations  from  dwelling  on  your  name  with  admiration  and  gratitude. 
Your  example  will  illuminate  the  path  of  future  statesmen,  when  those  who 
hate  and  revile  you  are  forgotten,  or  are  only  remembered,  like  the  incen 
diary  who  burnt  the  temple,  for  the  evil  they  have  done. 

"To  you  the  election  has  terminated  without  personal  loss;  but  to  the 
nation,  in  our  judgment,  the  injury  is  incalculable.  God  grant  that  the 
confederacy  may  not  hereafter  mourn  over  the  result  in  dismembered  frag 
ments! 

"  While  your  enemies  have  not  attempted  to  detract  from  your  intellect 
ual  character,  they  have  with  xintiring  malice  attacked  your  moral  reputa 
tion  and  endeavored  to  destroy  it.  The  verbal  slanders  and  printed  libels 
employed  as  means  to  accomplish  political  objects,  have  stained  the  charac 
ter  of  our  country  and  its  institutions  more  than  they  have  injured  yours. 


244  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"  In  your  high  personal  character,  in  your  political  principles,  and  unri 
valled  zeal  and  ability  to  carry  them  out,  may  be  found  the  strong  motives 
for  our  anxious  efforts  to  secure  your  election.  The  protection  of  American 
labor,  a  national  currency  connected  with  a  fiscal  agent  for  the  government, 
the  distribution  among  the  states  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  further 
constitutional  restrictions  upon  executive  power  and  patronage,  and  a  limi 
tation  upon  the  eligibility  of  the  president  for  a  second  term,  were  meas 
ures  which,  under  your  administration,  we  hoped  to  mature  and  bring  into 
practical  operation.  By  your  defeat  they  have  been  endangered,  if  not  for 
ever  lost. 

"  But  we  will  not  speculate  on  coming  events.     If  things  work  well,  we 


shall  find  consolation 
we  are  not 


solation  in  the  general  prosperity.     If  apprehended  evils  come, 
responsible  ;  and,  retaining  our  principles,  we  shall  enjoy  the 


happy  reflection  of  having  done  our  duty. 

"In  the  shades  of  Ashland  may  you  long  continue  to  enjoy  peace,  quiet, 
and  the  possession  of  those  great  faculties  which  have  rendered  you  the  ad 
miration  of  your  friends  and  the  benefactor  of  your  country.  And  when  at 
last  death  shall  demand  its  victim,  while  Kentucky  will  contain  your  ashes, 
rest  assured  that  old  and  faithful  friends  —  those  who  knowing  you  longest, 
loved  you  best  —  will  cherish  your  memory  and  defend  your  reputation." 

The  reply  of  Mr.  Clay,  as  it  appears   in  the  Lexington  Ob 
server  of  December  10,  1844,  was  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  am  greatly  obliged,  gentlemen,  by  the  kindness  toward  me,  which  has 
prompted  this  visit  from  the  governor,  the  presidential  electors  of  Ken 
tucky,  and  some  of  my  fellow-citizens  in  private  life.  And  I  thank  you,  sir 
(Mr.  Underwood),  their  organ  on  this  occasion,  for  the  feeling  and  eloquent 
address  which  you  have  just  done  me  the  honor  to  deliver.  I  am  under 
the  greatest  obligations  to  the  people  of  Kentucky.  During  more  than  forty 
years  of  my  life  they  have  demonstrated  their  confidence  and  affection  toward 
me  in  every  variety  of  form.  This  last  and  crowning  evidence  of  their  long 
and  faithful  attachment,  exhibited  in  the  vote  which,  in  their  behalf,  you  gave 
yesterday  at  the  seat  of  the  state  government,  as  the  electoral  college  of 
Kentucky,  fills  me  with  overflowing  gratitude.  But  I  should  fail  to  express 
the  feelings  of  my  heart  if  I  did  not  also  offer  my  profound  and  grateful 
acknowledgments  to  the  other  states  which  have  united  with  Kentucky  in 
the  endeavor  to  elect  me  to  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  Union,  and  to  the 
million  and  a  quarter  of  freemen,  embracing  so  much  virtue,  intelligence,  and 
patriotism,  who,  wherever  residing,  have  directed  strenuous  and  enthusias 
tic  exertions  to  the  same  object. 

"Their  effort  has  been  unavailing,  and  the  issue  of  the  election  has  not 
corresponded  with  their  anxious  hopes  and  Confident  expectations.  You 
have,  sir,  assigned  some  of  the  causes  which  you  suppose  have  occasioned 
the  result.  I  will  not  trust  myself  to  speak  of  them.  My  duty  is  that  of 
perfect  submission  to  an  event  which  is  now  irrevocable. 

"  I  will  not  affect  indifference  to  the  personal  concern  I  had  in  the  politi 
cal  contest  just  terminated:  but,  unless  I  am  greatly  self-deceived,  the  prin 
cipal  attraction  to  me  of  the  office  of  president  of  the  United  States  arose 
out  of  the  cherished  hope  that  I  might  be  an  h  amble  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  Providence  to  accomplish  public  good.  I  desired  to  see  the  former 
purity  of  the  general  government  restored,  and  to  see  dangers  and  evils 
which  I  sincerely  believed  encompassed  it  averted  and  remedied.  I  was 
anxious  that  the  policy.  of  the  country,  especially  in  the  great  department 


HIS  REPLY  TO  THE  ELECTORS.  245 

of  domestic  labor  and  industry,  should  be  fixed  and  stable,  that  all  might 
know  how  to  regulate  and  accommodate  their  conduct.  And,  fully  con 
vinced  of  the  wisdom  of  the  public  measures  which  you  have  enumerated,  I 
hoped  to  live  to  witness,  and  to  contribute  to,  their  adoption  and  estab 
lishment. 

"So  far  as  respects  any  official  agency  of  mine,  it  has  been  otherwise  dfr 
creed,  and  I  bow  respectfully  to  the  decree.  The  future  course  of  the  gov 
ernment  is  altogether  unknown,  an  \  wrapped  in  painful  uncertainty.  \ 
shall  not  do  the  new  administration  the  injustice  of  condemning  it  in  ad 
vance.  On  the  contrary,  I  earnestly  desire  that,  enlightened  by  its  owi 
reflections,  and  by  a  deliberate  review  of  all  the  great  interests  of  the  coun 
try,  and  prompted  by  public  opinion,  the  benefit  may  yet  be  secured  of  th< 
practical  execution  of  those  principles  and  measures  for  which  we  hav 
honestly  contended;  that  peace  and  honor  may  be  preserved ;  and  that  this 
young  but  great  nation  may  be  rendered  harmonious,  prosperous,  and  pow 
erful. 

"We  are  not  without  consolations  under  the  event  which  has  happened. 
The  whig  party  has  fully  and  fairly  exhibited  to  the  country  the  principle* 
and  measures  which  it  believed  best  adapted  to  secure  our  liberties  an^ 
promote  the  common  welfare.  It  has  made,  in  their  support,  constant  and 
urgent  appeals  to  the  reason  and  judgment  of  the  people.  For  myself,  1 
have  the  satisfaction  to  know  that  I  have  escaped  a  great  and  fearful  re 
sponsibility  ;  and  that,  during  the  whole  canvass,  I  have  done  nothing  incon 
sistent  with  the  dictates  of  the  purest  honor.  No  mortal  man  is  authorized 
to  say  that  I  held  out  to  him  the  promise  of  any  office  or  appointment  what 
ever. 

"What  now  is  the  duty  of  the  whig  party?  I  venture  to  express  an 
opinion  with  the  greatest  diffidence.  The  future  is  enveloped  in  a  veil  im 
penetrable  by  human  eyes.  I  can  not  contemplate  it  without  feelings  of 
great  discouragement  But  I  know  of  only  one  safe  rule  in  all  the  vicissi 
tudes  of  human  life,  public  and  private,  and  that  is,  conscientiously  to  satisfy 
ourselves  of  what  is  right,  and  firmly  and  undeviatingly  to  pursue  it  under 
all  trials  and  circumstances,  confiding  in  the  Great  Ruler  of  the  Universe  for 
ultimate  success.  The  whigs  are  deliberately  convinced  of  the  truth  and 
wisdom  of  the  principles  and  measures  which  they  have  espoused.  It 
seems,  therefore,  to  me  that  they  should  persevere  in  contending  for  them ; 
and  that,  adhering  to  their  separate  and  distinct  organization,  they  should 
treat  all  who  have  the  good  of  their  country  in  view  with  respect  and  sym 
pathy,  and  invite  their  co-operation  in  securing  the  patriotic  objects  which 
it  has  been  their  aim  and  purpose  to  accomplish. 

"I  heartily  thank  you,  sir,  for  your  friendly  wishes  for  my  happiness,  in 
the  retirement  which  henceforward  best  becomes  me.  Here  I  hope  to  en 
joy  peace  and  tranquillity,  seeking  faithfully  to  perform,  in  the  walks  of 
private  life,  whatever  duties  may  yet  appertain  to  me.  And  I  shall  never 
cease,  while  life  remains,  to  look  with  lively  interest  and  deep  solicitude, 
upon  the  movement  and  operations  of  our  tree  system  of  government,  and 
to  hope  that  under  the  smiles  of  an  all-wise  Providence,  our  republic  may 
be  ever  just,  honorable,  prosperous,  and  great." 

We  learn  from  an  eyewitness  that  the  scene,  during  the  deliv 
ery  of  these  remarks  was  at  once  painful  and  interesting.  While 
Mr.  Clay  was  expressing  his  grateful  regards  for  his  friends, 
whc  had  stood  up  to  shield  him  from  the  malignant  calumnies  of 


246  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

his  enemies,  and  the  patriotic  hope  that  the  result  of  the  election, 
in  the  hands  of  an  all-wise  Providence,  might  be  overruled  for 
good  to  the  country,  every  eye  was  suffused  with  manly  tears. 
The  old  men  who  had  known  him  in  his  earlier  career,  and  had 
seen  him  come  forth  unharmed  from  amid  the  arrows  of  calumny 
and  detraction  which  had  been  unsparingly  aimed  at  him,  and 
the  unceasing  though  puerile  efforts  which  had  been  made  to  ar 
rest  his  progress — the  young  men  who  had  been  taught  in  in 
fancy  to  lisp  his  name,  and  to  revere  him  as  his  country's  benefac 
tor — wept  together.  "  During  Mr.  Clay's  remarks  we  occupied 
a  position  immediately  in  front  of  him  ;  and  as  we  watched  his 
expressive  countenance,  and  saw  the  deep  emotion  which  at 
times  almost  overpowered  him,  and  well  nigh  choked  his  utter 
ance  as  he  gave  expression  to  the  sentiments  which  have  ever 
filled  his  bosom  to  the  exclusion  of  every  selfish  feeling,  we  felt 
a  conviction  of  his  greatness,  which,  with  all  our  former  admi 
ration  of  the  man,  we  had  never  before  realized." 

The  following  was  the  numerical  result  of  the  election  of 
1844:  For  CLAY  —  Massachusetts,  12  ;  Rhode  Island,  4  ;  Con 
necticut,  6 ;  Vermont,  6  ;  New  Jersey,  7  ;  Delaware,  3  ;  Mary 
land,  8;  North  Carolina,  11;  Tennessee,  13;  Kentucky,  12; 
Ohio,  23.  — Total,  105. 

For  POLK — Maine,  9  ;  New  Hampshire,  6  ;  New  York,  36  ; 
Pennsylvania,  26;  Virginia,  17;  South  Carolina,  9 ;  Georgia, 
10;  Alabama,  9;  Mississippi,  6;  Louisiana,  6;  Indiana,  12; 
Illinois,  9;  Missouri,  7;  Michigan,  5;  Arkansas,  3.  —  Total, 
170. 

The  official  popular  vote  showed  for  CLAY,  1,297,912;  for 
POLK,  1,336,196;  for  BIRNEY,  the  candidate  of  the  "liberal 
party"  (sad  misnomer!)  as  they  called  themselves,  62,127.  Mr. 
Folk's  majority  over  Mr.  Clay,  exclusive  of  South  Carolina, 
where  the  presidential  electors  were  chosen  by  the  legislature, 
was  38,284.  If  to  this  be  added  20,000  as  the  majority  of  Mr. 
Polk  in  South  Carolina,  his  aggregate  majority  over  Mr.  Clay 
was  58,284.  Place  the  Birneyvote  (62,127)  by  the  side  of  this, 
and  it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Polk  did  not  receive  the  votes  of  a 
majority  of  the  people.  Mr.  Clay  received  more  votes  by  up 
ward  of  twenty  thousand  than  General  Harrison,  with  all  his 


CAUSES    OF    THE    WHIGS*    DEFEAT.  247 

popularity  and  the  immense  efforts  of  the  whigs,  received  in 
1840.  Take  into  account  the  large  abstraction  from  the  whig 
ranks  in  the  state  of  New  York  by  Birney,  the  alienations  pro 
duced  by  the  "  Native"  party,  and  other  causes,  to  which  we 
shall  more  particularly  allude,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  the  whigs 
had  abundant  cause  to  confide  in  the  strength  of  their  candidate 
with  the  people,  and  to  feel  assured  that,  but  for  the  frauds, 
treacheries,  and  deceits  .hat  were  practised,  their  triumph  would 
have  been  as  complete  sis  their  cause  was  just. 


XXIII. 

THE    FRAUDS    AND    FOLLIES    OF    1844. 

THE  causes  of  the  defeat  of  the  whigs  in  the  j residential  elec 
tion  of  1844,  can  be  distinctly  traced  without  tho  aid  of  hypoth 
esis  and  speculation.  Foremost  among  them  we  may  cite  the 
foreign  influence  —  which,  operating  principally  in  the  state  of 
New-York,  was  also  powerfully  felt  in  Pennsylvania  and  other 
states.  Early  in  the  canvass,  Mr.  Brownson,  a  recent  convert 
to  the  Roman  catholic  religion,  the  editor  of  a  quarterly  review 
published  in  Boston,  and  a  writer  of  no  mean  abilities,  gave  the 
key-note  f<>r  misrepresentations,  which  were  echoed,  with  most 
malignant  effect,  from  Maine  to  Louisiana.  Of  Mr.  Frelinghuy- 
sen  he  wrote  in  the  following  terms  : — 

"  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  is  not  only  a  whig  in  the  worst  sense  of  the  term, 
but  he  is  also  the  very  impersonation  of  narrow-minded,  ignorant,  conceited 
bigotry — a  man  who  attacks  religious  liberty,  demands  the  unhallowed 
union  of  chnrch  and  state,  and  contends  that  the  government  should  legally 
recognise  the  religion  of  the  majority,  and  declare  whatever  goes  counter  to 
that  to  be  contra  bonos  mores.  He  concentrates  in  himself  the  whole  spirit 
of  'Native  Americanism/  and  'No  Popery,'  which  displayed  itself  so  bril 
liantly  in  the  recent  burnings  of  the  catholic  dwellings,  seminaries,  and 
churches,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia." 

Invective  like  this,  false  and  flagrant,  carried  with  them  still 
some  speciousness.  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  was  well  understood  to 
be  identified  with  a  sect  more  earnest,  perhaps,  than  any  othei 
i*»  their  denunciations  of  popery  and  its  dangers.  We  all  know 


248  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

the  potency  of  religious  prejudices,  and  how  high  above  mere 
secular  interests  a  believer  will  place  the  interests  of  the  church. 
The  Roman  catholics,  embracing  probably  nine  tenths  of  our  adopt 
ed  citizens  and  foreign  immigrants,  were  jealously  alive  to  suspi 
cions  and  apprehensions  such  as  Mr.  Brownsonand  others,  who  had 
their  confidence,  saw  fit  to  instill.  The  recollection  of  Gen.  Har 
rison's  death,  a  month  after  his  installation,  and  the  consequent 
elevation  of  the  vice-president  to  his  seat,  were  fresh  in  every 
body's  mind.  "  Why  may  not  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  become  your 
president,  and,  in  his  presbyterian  zeal,  burn  your  churches  and 
drive  away  your  priests  ?"  was  the  question  asked  of  thousands 
of  foreigners,  legal  and  illegal  voters,  with  irresistible  effect. 

A  native-American  party,  too,  had  suddenly  sprung  into  con 
sequence  about  this  time.  The  assiduous  attempts  of  the  loco- 
focos  to  secure  by  any  means,  however  disorganizing,  the  foreign 
vote  —  the  repeated  frauds  perpetrated  by  foreigners,  falsely 
claiming  to  be  naturalized,  at  the  polls  —  the  gregarious  and  anti- 
American  attitude  assumed  by  bodies  of  them,  here  and  there — • 
the  consideration  that  hordes  of  immigrants,  utterly  ignorant  of 
our  political  system,  its  workings,  and  its  wants,  unable,  perhaps, 
even  to  read  and  write,  had  it  in  their  power,  after  a  brief  resi 
dence,  to  vote,  while  the  intelligent  American,  with  sympathies  all 
awake  to  his  country's  interests,  well  versed  in  her  history,  and 
having  a  deep  stake  in  her  welfare,  but  who  had  not  passed  the 
age  of  twenty-one,  was  debarred  from  the  same  privilege — facts 
and  considerations  like  these,  had  produced  a  powerful  reaction 
in  the  minds  of  native  citizens  ;  and,  in  the  states  of  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania,  had  given  rise  to  a  party,  undisciplined,  badly 
organized,  and  deficient  in  influential  leaders,  but  exercising  great 
capacities  for  mischief.  All  the  odium  produced  in  the  minds  of 
adopted  citizens  and  foreign  illegal  voters,  by  the  acts  and  de 
nunciations  of  this  party,  was  transferred,  most  unjustly,  to  the 
whigs  and  Mr.  Clay,  while,  at  the  same  time,  no  measure  of  sup 
port  was  rendered  to  them  by  the  new  organization.  Mr.  Clay 
had  never  identified  himself  in  any  degree  with  the  principles 
of  this  party.  His  course  toward  foreigners  and  adopted  citizens, 
had  always  been  one  of  extreme  liberality.  The  Irish  and  Ger 
mans  had  always  found  in  him  a  ready  champion  and  a  true 


NATIVE-AMERICANISM.  249 

friend.  In  his  speeches  in  regard  to  the  recognition  of  South 
American  independence,  he  had  manifested  a  spirit  the  most 
magnanimous  and  tolerant  toward  the  professors  of  the  Roman 
catholic  belief ;  and  yet  now,  through  the  insidious  manoeuvres 
of  his  opponents,  were  all  the  errors  and  all  the  prospective  acts, 
threatened  and  imaginary,  of  "  nativism,"  converted  to  his  injury  ! 

The  apprehension  was  studiously  inculcated  by  the  partisans 
of  Mr.  Polk,  that  the  success  of  this  faction  was  involved  in  that 
of  Mr.  Clay ;  that  the  consequence  would  be  an  immediate 
abolition  or  modification  of  the  naturalization  laws,  greatly  re 
stricting  the  facilities  of  aliens  for  becoming  voters.  This  ap 
prehension  had  its  effect  even  upon  goodly  numbers  of  adopted 
citizens  who  had  heretofore  voted  the  whig  ticket.  It  also  pre- 
cipated  the  naturalizing  of  thousands  with  the  express  purpose 
of  opposing  nativism,  and  sent  other  thousands  to  the  polls  whose 
votes  were  in  direct  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  land. 

These  facts,  it  may  be  said,  prove  that  a  reform  in  our  natural 
ization  laws  is  much  needed.  But  in  regard  to  the  question  of 
remedying  the  evil,  Mr.  Clay  and  the  whig  party  stood,  and  con 
tinue  to  stand,  no  more  committed  than  their  opponents.  The 
native-American  faction  was  composed  of  members  of  both 
parties  ;  and  the  attempt  to  make  the  whigs  responsible  for  their 
crude  policy,  their  abortive  intrigues,  and  their  spasmodic  move 
ments,  was  the  basest  injustice,  while  at  the  same  time  it  was  but 
too  effectual  in  spreading  alarm  and  misconception  among  our 
foreign  population.  Everywhere  pains  were  taken  by  the  op 
posite  party  to  produce  the  impression  that  the  whig  and  native- 
American  parties  were  identical. 

Another  obvious  cause  of  the  disastrous  result  of  the  election, 
was  the  conduct  of  the  abolition  or  liberty  party,  which  derived 
nine  tenths  of  its  strength  from  the  whig  ranks.  There  was  a 
time  when  Mr.  James  G.  Birney  might  have  secured  the  election 
of  Mr.  Clay,  and  prevented  the  long  train  of  predicted  calamities 
and  crimes,  accompanied  by  bloodshed  and  affliction,  which  suc 
ceeded  the  annexation  of  Texas.  But  Mr.  Birney,  the  friend  of 
"  liberty"  and  enemy  of  annexation,  threw  his  influence  in  the 
scale  of  Mr.  Polk,  and  persisted  in  running  for  the  presidency, 
well  knowing  that  he  was  thereby  aiding  the  election  of  Polk. 

K* 


250  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

It  seemed  to  be,  by  a  fatal  perversity,  that  while  at  the  north 
Mr.  Clay  was  represented  as  an  ultra  supporter  of  the  institution 
of  slavery,  at  the  south  he  should  be  described  as  an  abolitionist  • 
although,  to  use  his  own  language,  he  was  "  neither  one  nor  the 
other."  In  a  private  letter,  which  was  purloined  and  published, 
bearing  date  September  18th,  1844,  and  addressed  to  Cassius  M. 
Clay,  he  says  :  — 

"  As  we  have  the  same  surname,  and  are,  moreover,  related,  great  use  is 
made  at  the  south  against  me,  of  whatever  falls  from  you.  There,  you  are 
even  represented  as  being  my  son  ;  hence  the  necessity  of  the  greatest  cir 
cumspection,  and  especially  that  you  avoid  committing  me.  You  are  watched 
wherever  you  go,  and  every  word  you  publicly  express  will  be  tortured  and 
perverted  as  my  own  are.  After  all,  I  am  afraid  you  are  too  sanguine  in 
supposing  that  any  considerable  number  of  the  liberty  men  can  be  induced 
to  support  me." 

The  event  proved  that  Mr.  Clay's  sagacity  was  not  at  fault  in 
this  apprehension.  We  have  already  shown  that  the  whig  votes 
thrown  away  upon  Mr.  Birney,  were  more  than  sufficient  to  have 
prevented  the  election  of  Mr.  Polk.  There  is  a  class  of  im 
practicable  theorists,  who,  while  they  are  ready  enough  to  claim 
and  partake  all  the  benefits  of  our  confederate  system  of  govern 
ment,  would  yet  trample  upon  those  principles  of  compromise 
on  which  it  was  established  and  must  rest.  There  is  some  con 
sistency  in  the  conduct  of  the  disorganizers  who  advocate  the 
dissolution  of  this  noble  confederacy  because  they  can  not 
at  once  remould  to  their  taste  the  character  of  our  people  and 
our  institutions ;  but  the  men  who  profess  a  love  of  the  Union, 
and  a  desire  for  its  perpetuity,  and  at  the  same  time  pursue  a 
course  practically  fatal  to  its  honor  and  its  interests,  because  their 
own  political  ideal  is  unattainable,  are  the  most  dangerous  foes 
of  the  republic.  It  was  by  the  recreancy  of  such  men,  that  Mr. 
Clay's  elevation  to  the  presidency  was  prevented.  Alas  !  they 
can  not  give  us  back  the  gallant  lives  and  the  untarnished  honor 
which  their  error  has  cost  the  country. 

Calumny  did  its  worst  in  regard  to  the  private  and  public 
character  of  Mr.  Clay,  as  we  have  already  seen  ;*  but  the  politi 
cal  duplicity  resorted  to  by  the  partisans  of  Mr.  Polk,  was  pro- 

*  The  course  of  the  whigs  toward  Mr.  Polk,  presented  a  most  remarkable  contrast  to  that 
practised  by  their  opponents  toward  Mr.  Clay.  The  public  acts  of  the  former  were  alone 
criticised  and  canvassed.  There  was  no  attempt  to  hunt  up  small  personalities  and  scurril 
ous  slanders  against  him. 


POLITICAL    DUPLICITY.  251 

ductive  of  far  greater  mischief.  Everywhere  at  the  south,  Mr. 
Folk's  claims  were  based  upon  the  ground  of  his  opposition  to  a 
protective  tariff,  and  his  pledges  in  favor  of  the  immediate  annex 
ation  of  Texas.  At  the  north,  he  was  represented  as  a  better 
friend  to  the  tariff  than  Mr.  Clay  ;  while  the  issue  of  annexation 
was  repudiated  wherever  its  unpopularity  rendered  such  a  course 
expedient.  Silas  Wright,  a  decided  opponent  of  the  Texas 
project  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  was  made  a  locofoco 
candidate  for  governor  of  New  York,  by  which  the  people  were 
blinded,  and  the  friends  and  enemies  of  annexation  in  the  party, 
driven  to  unite  in  support  of  Mr.  Polk.  Thus,  while  annexation 
was  the  party  cry  in  some  sections,  and,  in  fact,  the  great  ques 
tion  of  the  election,  care  was  taken  to  disclaim  it  so  far  in  other 
sections,  that  the  people  should  be  utterly  deceived  as  to  the  im 
minence  of  the  measure. 

In  the  resolutions  of  the  convention  which  nominated  Mr.  Polk, 
there  was  no  allusion,  save  a  very  equivocal  one,  to  the  tariff. 
This  simply  declared,  that  "justice  and  sound  policy  forbid  the 
federal  government  to  foster  one  branch  of  industry  to  the  detri 
ment  of  another,  or  to  cherish  the  interests  of  one  portion  to  the 
injury  of  another  portion  of  our  common  country" — one  of  those 
axiomatic  declarations,  which,  it  is  obvious,  any  party  might  safely 
adopt.  The  example  of  disingenuousness  thus  given  at  the  con 
vention,  was  faithfully  copied  and  improved  upon  by  political 
managers  everywhere.  At  the  south,  the  declaration  was  made 
to  mean  everything ;  at  the  north,  nothing.  Mr.  Polk  was  quoted 
as  the  most  strenuous  free-trade  philosopher  in  one  place,  while 
in  another,  he  was  depicted  on  banners  and  in  wood-cuts,  sur 
rounded  by  emblems  of  domestic  industry,  and  extending  a  most 
paternal  measure  of  protection  to  American  products  and  manu 
factures.  In  the  slaveholding  states,  he  was  represented  as  the 
enemy  of  all  tariffs  ;  while,  in  the  wool-growing  and  manufdC- 
turing  states,  it  was  promised  that  he  would  favor  the  protective 
policy,  and,  if  he  did  not  extend  still  more  protection  to  domestic 
industry,  would  at  least  leave  the  existing  tariff  untouched.  The 
success  of  these  contrary  manoeuvres  fully  answered  the  expecta 
tions  of  their  authors.  In  Pennsylvania,  they  were  especially 
effectual  in  deceiving  the  people.  Mr.  Polk  received  large  ma* 


252  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

jorities  in  counties  the  most  extensively  opposed  to  any  disturb 
ance  of  the  tariff.  Indeed,  throughout  the  states  of  Pennsylvania,* 
New  York,  and  New  Jersey,  wherever  the  majority  was  supposed 
to  be  favorable  to  the  policy,  the  locofoco  banner  bore  the  in 
scription  of  "  protection."  By  such  acts  of  chicanery  were  the 
people  swindled  out  of  their  voles  ! 

/  The  great  and  sufficient  cause,  however,  of  the  defeat  of  Mi 
iulay,  were  the  gross,  the  undeniable  frauds  practised  by  agents 
-  /of  the  opposite  party  at  the  polls.  We  have  spoken  of  the  as- 
/  siduous  attempts  made  to  excite  the  alarm  and  the  prejudices  of 
I  foreigners  against  the  whigs.  The  effect  was  to  enlist  them 
almost  to  a  man  in  opposition  to  Mr.  Clay.  The  month  before 
the  presidential  election,  there  was  an  election  for  governor  and 
other  state  officers  in  Maryland.  The  result  in  the  city  of  Balti 
more,  showed  an  increase  of  votes  far  beyond  any  previous  ratio. 
W;thin  a  few  weeks  of  the  election,  not  fewer  than  a  thousond 
naturalization  ^  pers  had  been  issued.  And  it  was  ascertained 
that  not  over  forty  of  the  whole  number  of  persons  for  whom  they 
were  procured  would  vote  the  whig  ticket !  Several  convictions 
for  frauds  upon  the  ballot-box  took  place  in  the  courts,  all  the  cul 
prits  being  of  one  political  complexion.  A  poor  woman  confessed 
that  she  had  loaned  the  naturalization  papers  of  her  deceased 
husband  to  seventeen  different  persons,  receiving  a  dollar  in  every 
instance  for  the  use  of  them.  Here  were  seventeen  fraudulent 
votes  accounted  for !  What  a  farce  seems  the  elective  franchise 
where  such  profanations  of  the  freeman's  right  can  be  practised 
— by  persons,  too,  just  landed  on  our  shores,  having  no  patriotic 
associations  with  the  past  history  of  the  country,  no  knowledge 
of  our  public  men  and  public  interests,  and  hardly  able  to  explain 

*  When  certain  documents,  proving  Mr.  Folk's  opposition  to  the  tariff  of  1842,  were  about 
being  circulated  in  Pennsylvania,  the  Lycoming  Gazette  of  October  19,  1844,  published  at 
Williamsport,  Lycoming  county,  denounced  them  in  these  terms  :  "  Burn  the  vile  slanders, 
the  product  of  British  gold.  Warn  your  neighbors  of  the  imposition  ;  and,  when  the  day 
of  election  arrives,  teach  these  hirelings  that  the  democracy  of  Lycoming  are  too  intelligent 
to  be  gulled,  and  too  independent  to  be  bought.  By  voting  for  James  K.  Polk  and  George 
M.  Dallas,  you  oppose  the  creation  of  another  national  bank,  and  insure  the  continuance  of 
the  present  tariff."  Mr.  Polk  himself  set  a  most  anti-democratic  example  of  disingenuous- 
ness.  When  waited  upon,  shortly  before  the  election,  by  a  committee,  who  wished  to  know 
whether  he  was  in  favor  of  modifying  the  tariff,  he  declined  making  any  reply.  In  a  letter 
dated  June  19,  1844,  to  J.  K.  Kane,  of  Philadelphia,  he  hnd  favored  the  opinion  that  he  was, 
in  the  words  of  the  Harrisburg  Union  (locofoco),  "  in  favor  of  a  judicious  revenue  tariff 
affording  the  amplest  incidental  protection  to  American  industry." 


FRAUDULENT    VOTES.  253 

the  difference  between  a  monarchical  and  republican  form  of 
government  ! 

A  salutary  restraint  was  put  upon  these  fraudulent  voters  by 
the  conviction  and  punishment  of  a  few  of  the  offenders  ;  and 
there  was  consequently  the  remarkable  falling  off  of  722  votes  in 
the  locofoco  vote  at  the  municipal  election,  which  immediately 
followed,  while  the  whig  vote  exhibited  a  diminution  of  only 
three.  The  whig  vote  at  the  gubernatorial  election  was  7,968  ; 
the  locofoco  vote,  9,190 :  the  latter  showing  an  increase  of  1,892 
over  the  election  for  mayor  of  the  preceding  year,  when  the 
largest  vote  ever  thrown  was  polled,  while  the  whig  increase  was 
only  368  ! 

In  Pennsylvania,  there  were  evidences  of  fraud  no  less  con 
clusive.  At  Pittsburg,  after  the  presidential  election,  twenty-four 
bills  of  indictment  for  perjury  and  subornation  of  perjury  in  taking 
out  naturalization  papers,  to  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Polk, 
were  found.  There  were  twenty-five  prosecutions,  in  only  one 
of  which  was  there  deficiency  of  proofs.  A  number  of  counties 
polled  more  votes  than  they  contained  male  adult  inhabitants,  ac 
cording  to  the  census  of  1840.  If  that  census  was  correct,  Pike 
county  had  but  748  male  adult  inhabitants  :  it  polled  920  votes  ; 
Monroe  county,  with  2,034,  polled  2,220  ;  Tioga,  with  3,342, 
polled  3,367  ;  Perry,  with  3,500,  polled  3,671  ;  Columbia,  with 
5,033,  polled  5,108  ;  and  Potter,  with  732,  polled  794  votes.  It 
is  a  little  remarkable,  that  in  no  one  of  the  strong  whig  counties 
of  the  state,  was  any  such  ratio  of  increase  exhibited.  This 
marvellous  multiplication  of  voters  excited  naturally  no  little  sur 
prise  ;  for  it  seemed  quite  unaccountable  that  in  some  of  the  loco 
foco  counties  there  should  be  more  voters  than  adult  males,  while 
in  all  the  whig  counties  the  reverse  should  be  invariably  the 
case  ! 

In  Georgia,  from  the  tax-list  and  the  census,  it  was  estimated 
that  the  number  of  legal  voters  at  the  election  of  1844,  was 
78,611.  What  was  the  result  ?  The  number  of  votes  cast  was 
86,247,  leaving  7,636  which  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the 
supposition  of  fraud.  An  examination  of  details,  will  show  that 
this  presumptive  unlawful  increase  is,  in  every  instance,  on  the 
side  of  the  locofocos.  The  lawful  vote  of  Forsyth,  Lumpkin. 


254  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Habersliam,  and  Franklin  counties,  was  estimated  at  3,202  ;  but 
they  actually  returned  1,821  for  Clay,  and  4,014  for  Polk — in 
all,  5,835  !  In  the  four  whig  counties  of  Madison,  Elbert,  Lin 
coln,  and  Columbia,  the  lawful  vote  was  3,105  :  the  votes  returned 
were  3,123  — of  which  Clay  received  2, 124,  and  Polk  999.  The 
locofocos  directed  all  their  efforts  to  throwing  an  overwhelming 
vote  in  those  counties  where  they  already  had  the  ascendency 
Elbert,  the  strongest  whig  county  in  the  state,  gave  five  votes  lesr» 
than  it  was  entitled  to,  according  to  the  estimate  to  which  we 
have  referred. 

The  total  vote  of  Louisiana,  in  the  exciting  contest  of  1840, 
was  18,912.  In  that  of  1844,  it  was  26,295  !  The  frauds  here 
were  monstrous  and  palpable.  In  the  single  parish  of  Plaque- 
mines,  the  vote  for  Mr.  Polk  exceeded  the  whole  number  of 
white  males  of  all  ages  in  tLe  parish,  in  1840,  notwithstanding 
the  property  qualification  exacted  of  voters.  At  the  investigations 
afterward  instituted,  the  steward  of  the  steamboat  Agnes,  John 
Gibney,  swore  that  the  boat  went  down  from  New  Orleans  with 
a  full  load  of  passengers,  under  the  charge  of  Judge  Leonard 
(the  great  man  of  Plaquemines)  ;  that  he  himself,  a  minor,  not 
residing  in  Plaquemines,  being  persuaded  by  the  captain,  voted 
three  times  at  different  polls  in  that  parish — every  time  for  Polk 
and  Dallas.  Dr.  J.  B.  Wilkinson,  a  voter  of  Plaquemines,  swore 
that  he  noticed  that  the  polls  were  opened  before  the  legal  hour, 
and  were  then  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  strangers,  one  of  whom 
he  ventured  to  challenge  ;  but,  as  the  clerk  reached  out  the  book 
the  sheriff  pulled  it  away,  declaring  that  nobody  should  be  sworn  ! 
After  this,  the  foreign  votes  went  in  pell-mell.  Alfred  Vail,  a 
passenger,  and  E.  Seymour  Austin,  pilot  of  the  Agnes,  swore  to 
a  state  of  facts  within  their  knowledge,  similar  to  that  sworn  to 
by  John  Gibney.  Albert  Savage,  engineer  of  the  steamboat 
Planter,  swore  that  his  boat  went  down  with  one  hundred  and 
forty  locofocos  from  New  Orleans,  who  voted  after  the  fashion 
above  described  ;  but  when  he  offered  a  vote  —  it  being  a  Clay 
one  —  it  was  refused,  the  sheriff  saying  he  would  swear  him! 
Paul  Gormen  testified  that  he  went  with  other  whigs  to  vote,  but 
they  were  deterred  by  seeing  Charles  Bruland  driven  out  of  the 
voting-room,  wounded,  bloody,  and  without  his  hat,  having  been 


NATURALIZATION    IN    NEW    YORK.  255 

beaten  by  the  sheriff  for  offering  a  whig  vote.  There  being  a 
large  locofoco  mob  about  the  polls,  threatening  the  few  whigs 
who  approached,  the  latter  were  obliged  to  leave,  save  in  a  few 
instances,  without  voting,  so  that  the  recorded  vote  of  Plaque- 
mines  stood  —  for  Clay,  37;  for  Polk,  1,007!  The  locofoco 
majority  in  the  state  was  699  ;  and  if  the  vote  of  the  Plaque- 
mines  precinct  had  been  admitted  to  be  as  at  the  election  of  1843, 
Mr.  Clay  would  have  carried  the  state. 

In  his  remarks  at  Faneuil  Hall,  on  the  result  of  the  election 
Mr.  Webster  said  :  — 

"I  believe  it  to  be  an  unquestionable  fact,  that  masters  of  vessels,  having 
brought  over  emigrants  from  Europe,  have,  within  thirty  days  of  their 
arrival,  seen  those  very  persons  carried  up  to  the  polls,  and  give  their  votes 
for  the  highest  offices  in  the  national  and  state  governments.  Such  voters 
of  course  exercise  no  intelligence,  and,  indeed,  no  volition  of  their  own. 
They  can  know  nothing,  either  of  the  question  at  issue,  or  of  the  candidates 
proposed.  They  are  mere  instruments,  used  by  unprincipled  men — and  made 
competent  instruments  only  by  the  accumulation  of  crime  upon  crime.  Now 
it  seems  to  me  impossible  that  every  honest  man,  and  everv  good  citizen, 
every  true  lover  of  liberty  and  the  constitution,  every  real  friend  of  the 
country,  would  not  desire  to  see  an  end  put  to  these  enormous  abuses." 

A  reform,  Mr.  Webster  added,  was  just  as  important  to  the 
rights  of  foreigners,  regularly  and  fairly  naturalized  among  us,  as 
it  is  to  the  rights  of  native-born  American  citizens. 

The  total  vote  in  tho  state  of  New  York,  in  the  presidential 
election  of  1844,  was  —  for  Clay,  232,473  ;  for  Polk,  237,588  ; 
for  Birney,  15,812  :  in  all,  485,808.  The  majority  for  Polk  over 
Clay  was  5,115  ;  the  majority  for  Clay  and  Birney  over  Polk, 
10,632.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the  counties  of  Erie  and 
St.  Lawrence,  the  most  remarkable  increase  in  the  locofoco  vote 
was  exhibited,  and  here  the  largest  amount  of  fraud  was  perpe 
trated.  For  weeks  before  the  election,  the  courts  in  the  city  of 
New  York  were  crowded  by  the  applicants  for  naturalization, 
sent  there  by  the  industrious  locofoco  committees.  One  of  the 
daily  papers  gave  the  following  account  of  a  scene  presented  the 
day  before  the  election  :  "  Yesterday  noon,  more  than  three 
hundred  aliens  had  crowded  about  the  doors  of  the  common  pleas 
in  the  city-hall,  when,  the  room  having  been  emptied  through  the 
windows,  and  the  doors  reopened  for  fresh  admissions,  such  a 
scene  was  witnessed  as  has  .rarely  been  exhibited  in  an  American 


256  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

court-room.  The  doors  were  violently  thrust  in,  and  the  avalanche 
of  human  beings  came  onward  with  such  impetuosity,  as  to 
overthrow  everything  in  its  course.  Coats  were  torn  off,  hats 
were  trodden  under  foot,  men  were  crowded  and  jammed  until 
almost  lifeless,  and,  in  two  or  three  cases,  half  an  hour  elapsed 
before  they  had  recovered  themselves  sufficiently  to  speak.  Out 
side  of  the  court-room,  the  crowd  of  foreigners  was  clamorous 
for  admission,  and  it  required  the  physical  force  of  six  officers  to 
make  an  opening  for  one  of  the  judges.  The  court-room  was 
filled  and  emptied  not  less  than  four  times  during  the  day,  and 
among  the  crowd  were  a  number  of  Irish  women."  In  the  city 
of  New  York,  notwithstanding  an  admitted  defection  from  the 
locofoco  ranks  to  the  whig,  the  locofoco  increase  from  1840,  was 
6,361  ;  in  St.  Lawrence  county,  it  was  1,126,  while  the  whig 
vote  was  diminished  131  ;  in  Erie,  it  was  1,359,  while  the  whig 
increase  was  only  122. 

All  the  convictions  for  fraud  at  the  polls  in  this  election  were 
upon  one  political  side,  as  was  all  the  presumptive  evidence  of 
fraud.  In  the  city  of  New  York,  the  conspiracy  for  swindling 
the  people  bore  the  marks  of  deliberate  trickery  and  systematic 
corruption.  There  is  one  plain  fact  which  is  a  conclusive  answer 
to  those  who,  in  their  ignorance,  might  question  the  assertion 
that  the  locofocos  are  the  party  which  alone  avails  itself  of  these 
infamous  outrages  on  the  elective  franchise.  There  is  a  simple 
remedy  for  the  evil — a  registry  law.  In  the  cities  of  Massa 
chusetts,  this  law  is  found  to  operate  as  an  efficient  check  to  all 
illegal  voting  ;  and  in  Massachusetts,  we  see  none  of  that  inordi 
nate  increase  in  the  locofoco  vote,  that  was  exhibited  in  other 
places,  where  no  such  restrictions  are  established.  The  facilities 
for  illegal  voting  in  the  city  of  New  York,  are  enormous.  A 
single  individual,  by  dint  of  hard-swearing  and  adroit  manage 
ment,  can  vote  at  all  the  voting-booths  in  the  city,  numbering  up 
ward  of  sixty !  A  well-drilled  band  of  a  hundred  men,  might 
easily  cast  upward  of  a  thousand  votes  in  one  day !  A  registry 
law  is  the  only  sufficient  means  of  preventing  the  evil.  Compel 
every  legal  voter  in  every  ward  to  have  his  name  enrolled  on  a 
printed  list  of  voters  some  days  previous  to  the  election,  so  that 
time  may  be  given  to  the  ward  officers  to  compare  the  lists,  and 


OPPOSITION    TO    A    REGISTRY    LAW.  257 

satisfy  themselves  of  their  correctness,  and  you  provide  a  safe 
guard  against  the  profanation  of  the  ballot-box.  Which  party 
has  solicitously  asked  for  such  a  safeguard,  and  which  has  re 
pudiated  it  ?  Which  party,  after  repeated  exertions,  procured  a 
registry  law,  and  which  party,  the  moment  they  came  into  power, 
abrogated  it  with  an  indecent  haste  ?  The  replies  to  these  ques 
tions  fix  the  stigma  of  fraud  and  corruption  where  it  belongs. 
The  locofoco  party  of  New  York,  have  ever  shown  themselves 
the  reckless  and  inveterate  opponents  of  a  registry  law.  They 
denounce  it  as  anti-democratic.  And  why  ?  Because  it  takes 
the  p;x>r  man  from  his  work  to  go  and  register  his  name,  and  pre 
supposes  a  certain  amount  of  information  on  his  part  as  to  the 
requisitions  of  the  law,  for  the  absenpe  of  which  information  he 
ought  not  to  be  disfranchized.  This  is  the  sum  and  substance 
of  locofoco  argument  against  a  registry  law  ;  as  if  it  were  un 
democratic  to  secure  the  majority,  by  the  only  efficient  safeguard, 
from  being  cheated,  by  requiring  voters  to  go  through  the  simple 
form  of  registering  their  names  a  fitting  time  before  the  opening 
of  the  polls  !  Although  locofocoism  may  arrive  at  its  conclusions 
by  logic  like  this,  it  is  obviously  at  war  with  sound  democracy. 
The  opposition  which  the  party  has  always  maintained  in  New 
York  to  a  registry  law,  is  proof  presumptive  that  the  charges  of 
fraud  brought  by  the  whigs  are  not  unfounded. 

The  system  of  betting  on  elections,  always  objectionable,  in 
variably  operates  in  favor  of  the  least  scrupulous  party.  The 
money  wagered  is  forestalled  and  parceled  out  among  political 
hacks,  whose  pay  depending  on  the  successful  result  of  their  ser 
vices,  they  are  incited  to  exertions  the  most  reckless  to  compass 
their  ends.  Let  the  whigs  always  beware  of  betting  with  their 
antagonists.  "  It  is  naught,  and  it  can  not  come  to  good."  The 
money  foolishly  lost  in  this  way  by  whigs  at  the  election  of  1844, 
went  to  requite  the  services  of  thousands  of  those  mercenary 
politicians  who  are  ever  ready  to  attach  themselves  to  the  party 
which  pays  the  best. 

In  the  state  of  New  York  alone,  there  wer^  cast  spurious  votes 
enough  to  defeat  the  election  of  Mr.  Clay.  In  Louisiana,  Georgia, 
and  Pennsylvania,  similar  frauds  were  perpetrated  on  a  smaller 
scale.  Had  the  true  voice  of  the  majority  of  legal  voters  in 

17 


258  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

those  states  been  heard,  the  result  would  have  been  favorable  tC 
the  whigs.  But  misrepresentation,  brute  force,  and  political  im 
morality,  prevailed.  The  subject  is  an  ungracious  one  to  dwell 
upon.  The  history  of  the  frauds  of  1844  is  a  dark  chapter  in 
our  annals.  Party  profligacy  then  exhausted  its  resources  in  the 
attainment  of  its  ends. 

We  have  already  described  with  what  renewed  confidence  and 
attachment  the  country  turned  to  Mr.  Clay  after  that  defeat. 

"I  have  b>en,"  he  writes,  the  25th  of  April,  1845,  "in  spite  of  unexpected 
discomfitures,  the  object  of  honors  and  of  compliments  usually  rendered 
only  to  those  who  are  successful  and  victorious  in  the  great  enterprises  of 
mankind.  To  say  nothing  of  other  demonstrations,  the  addresses  and  com 
munications  which  I  have  received  since  the  election  from  every^  quarter, 
from  collective  bodies  and  individuals,  and  from  both  sexes,  conveying  senti 
ments  and  feelings  of  the  warmest  regard  and  strongest  friendship,  and  de 
ploring  the  issue  of  the  election,  would  fill  a  volume.  I  have  been  quite  as 
much,  if  not  more,  affected  by  them  than  I  was  by  any  disappointment  of 
personal  interest  of  my  own  in  the  event  of  the  contest" 


XXIV. 

THE    WAR    ON    MEXICO FINANCIAL    POLICY. 

THE  public  acts  of  Mr.  Clay  exhibit  unequivocally  the  princi 
ples  by  which  he  would  have  been  guided  and  the  policy  he 
would  have  pursued  in  the  event  of  his  election.  They  are  the 
principles  and  the  policy  to  which  the  whig  party  owed,  and  con 
tinues  to  owe,  all  its  cohesion  and  all  its  power.  A  triumph 
without  them  would  not  be  a  whig  triumph.  It  might  benefit  a 
few  office-seekers  and  professional  politicians  here  and  there,  but 
it  would  be  barren  of  all  good  to  the  people  at  large. 

In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Clay,  the  policy  of  the  country  in  regard 
to  the  protection  of  American  industry  seemed,  previous  to  the 
election  of  1844,  to  be  rapidly  acquiring  a  permament  and  fixed 
character.  Yielding  to  the  joint  influence  of  their  own  reflec 
tions  and  experience,  the  slave  states  were  fast  subscribing  to  the 
justice  and  expediency  of  a  tariff  for  revenue,  with  discrimina 
tions  for  protection.  At  such  an  auspicious  moment,  beguiled  by 
the  misrepresentations  which  proclaimed  Mr.  Polk  as  equally  a 


CONSEQUENCES    OF    THE    ELECTION.  259 

friend  to  the  tariff  with  Mr.  Clay,  the  great  states  of  Pennsyl 
vania  and  New  York,  both  friendly  to  the  protective  policy, 
allowed  it  to  be  perilled  and  impaired  by  the  ascendency  of  a 
hostile  administration. 

The  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public 
lands,  was  another  measure  which  the  triumph  of  the  whigs  would 
have  secured  ;  and  if  the  great  national  inheritance  of  those  lands 
is  not  wasted  in  a  few  years  by  graduation  and  other  projects 
of  alienation,  it  must  be  through  the  adoption  of  a  system  kindred 
to  that  which  Mr.  Clay  has  consistently  advocated.  Internal  im 
provements,  the  removal  of  obstructions  from  our  rivers  and 
harbors,  the  enlargement  of  all  those  facilities  which  contribute 
to  the  comfort,  the  prosperity,  and  the  dignity  of  mankind,  would 
have  been  embraced  in  that  comprehensive  and  generous  policy 
which  has  always  found  a  ready  champion  in  Mr.  Clay.  Instead 
of  a  barren  and  unproductive  war,  the  pernicious  consequences 
of  which  will  be  felt  to  a  remote  prosperity,  we  should  have  had 
the  money  of  the  nation  expended  upon  objects  which  would 
have  been  permanently  productive  and  beneficent.  In  return  for 
all  the  money  and  blood  lavished  in  the  unrighteous  war  with 
Mexico,  what  can  we  show  ?  Territory,  which  we  could  have 
acquired  by  peaceful  means  at  a  tenth  part  of  the  expenditure  ! 
But  what  amount  of  unrequired  territory,  or  of  opulent  spoils, 
could  requite  the  desolation  inflicted  upon  thousands  of  hearts  by 
the  ravages  of  war  ?  — 

"  Why  praise  we,  prodigal  of  fame, 
The  rage  that  sets  the  world  on  flame? 
The  future  Muse  his  brow  shall  bind, 
Whose  godlike  bounty  spares  mankind. 
For  those  whom  bloody  garlands  crown, 
The  brass  may  breathe,  the  marble  frown ; 
To  him,  through  every  rescued  land, 
Ten  thousand  living  trophies  stand." 

Had  the  true  wish  of  the  country  prevailed,  we  should  have  had 
no  war  with  Mexico,  no  national  debt,  no  repeal  of  the  tariff  of 
1842,  no  sub-treasury,  no  imputation  against  us,  by  the  united 
voice  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  of  a  spirit  of  aggression  and 
inordinate  territorial  aggrandizement. 


260  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  second  session  of  the  twenty 
eighth  Congress  (December,  1844),  the  acting  president,  Mr.  Tyler, 
officially  announced  to  the  two  houses  that  "  a  controlling  major- 
*ty  of  the  people,  and  a  large  majority  of  the  states,"  had  declared 
in  favor  of  the  immediate  annexation  of  Texas.  "  Instructions," 
he  added,  "  have  thus  come  to  both  branches  of  Congress  from 
their  respective  constituents,  in  terms  the  most  emphatic.  It  is 
the  will  of  both  the  people  and  the  states,  that  Texas  shall  be 
annexed  to  the  Union,  promptly  and  immediately."  He  remarked 
further  :  "  The  two  governments  having  already  agreed,  through 
their  respective  organs,  on  the  terms  of  annexation,  I  would  rec 
ommend  their  adoption  by  Congress,  in  the  form  of  a  joint 
resolution,  or  act,  to  be  perfected  arid  made  binding  on  the  two 
countries,  when  adopted  in  like  manner  by  the  government  of 
Texas." 

The  subject  of  annexation  was  soon  taken  up  in  Congress  and 
discussed  with  great  zeal  on  both  sides  ;  and,  finally,  after  the 
public  mind  had  been  intensely  agitated  in  regard  to  it,  the  rec 
ommendation  of  Mr.  Tyler  was  adopted  ;  and  early  in  Maich, 
1845,  a  joint  resolution  for  annexing  Texas  was  passed  and  ap 
proved.  The  proposition  was  accepted  by  Texas,  through  her 
Congress  and  a  convention ;  and  the  annexation  project  was 
complete.  The  incidents  which  followed  may  be  briefly  sum 
med  up.  Mr.  Polk  was  no  sooner  seated  in  the  presidential 
chair,  than  the  consequences,  which  Mr.  Clay  had  predicted, 
and  Mexico  had  threatened,  began  to  develop  themselves.  The 
Texas  we  annexed  was  "  revolutionary  Texas."  There  was, 
moreover,  a  disputed  boundary  between  her  and  Mexico.  In 
anticipation  of  the  refusal  of  Mexico  to  receive  our  minister,  Mr. 
Slidell,  the  administration  gave  directions  to  General  TAYLOR  to 
take  position  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Congress 
was  in  session  at  the  time  ;  but  Mr.  Polk  did  not  see  fit  to  con 
sult  Congress  in  regard  to  measures  which  must  necessarily  lead 
to  a  collision  between  the  two  countries.  It  was  only  by  rumors 
and  reports  that  our  representatives  knew  that  those  measures 
were  maturing  until  the  war  burst  forth,  and  the  work  of  blood 
commenced  in  earnest.  The  territory  into  which  the  president, 
of  his  own  caprice,  had  thus  ordered  our  troops,  was  one  to 


THE    WAR    WITH    MEXICO.  261 

which  neither  Texas  nor  the  United  States  had  any  just  claim — 
a  territory  in  possession  of  a  nation  with  which  we  were  at 
peace  !  In  the  language  of  the  octogenarian  Albert  Gallatin, 
"  the  republic  of  Texas  had  not  a  shadow  of  right  to  the  territory 
idjacent  to  the  left  bank  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  Rio  del 
Norte.  Though  she  claimed,  she  never  had  actually  exercised 
'urisdiction  over  any  portion  of  it.  The  Mexicans  were  the  sole 
.nhabitants,  and  in  actual  possession  of  that  district.  Its  forcible 
occupation,  therefore,  by  the  army  of  the  United  States,  was, 
according  to  the  acknowledged  law  of  nations,  as  well  as  in  fact, 
in  act  of  open  hostility  and  war.  The  resistance  of  the  Mexi 
;ans  to  that  invasion  was  legitimate  ;  and  therefore  the  war  was 
mprovoked  by  them,  and  commenced  by  the  United  States." 

The  story  is  lucidly  told  by  Mr.  Clay  in  his  speech  at  Lexing- 
kon,  the  13th  of  November,  1847 — a  speech  to  which  we  shall 
Uave  occasion  to  allude  again.  In  this  he  says  : — 

"How  did  we  unhappily  get  involved  in  this  war?  It  was  predicted  as 
the  consequence  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States.  If  \ve 
had  not  Texas,  we  should  have  no  war.  The  people  were  told  that  if  that 
svent  happened,  war  would  ensue.  They  were  told  that  the  war  between 
Texas  and  Mexico  had  not  been  terminated  by  a  treaty  of  peace;  that  Mex- 
co  still  claimed  Texas  as  a  revolted  province;  and  that,  if  we  received 
Texas  into  our  Union,  we  took  along  with  her  the  war  existing  between  her 
and  Mexico.  And  the  minister  of  Mexico  formally  announced  to  the  gov 
ernment  at  Washington  that  his  nation  would  consider  the  annexation  of 
Texas  to  the  United  States  as  producing  a  state  of  war.  But  all  this  was 
denied  by  the  partisans  of  annexation.  They  insisted  that  we  should  have 
no  war,  and  even  imputed  to  those  who  foretold  it  sinister  motives  for  their 
groundless  prediction. 

"But,  notwithstanding  a  state  of  virtual  war  necessarily  resulted  from  the 
fact  of  annexation  of  one  of  the  belligerents  to  the  United  States,  actual  hos 
tilities  might  have  been  probably  averted  by  prudence,  moderation,  and 
wise  statesmanship.  If  General  Taylor  had  been  permitted  to  remain, 
where  his  own  good  sense  prompted  him  to  believe  he  ought  to  remain,  at 
the  point  of  Corpus  Christi;  and  if  a  negotiation  had  been  opened  with 
Mexico,  in  a  true  spirit  of  amity  and  conciliation,  war  possibly  might  have 
been  prevented.  But,  instead  of  this  pacific  and  moderate  course,  while 
Mr.  Slidell  was  bending  his  way  to  Mexico  with  his  diplomatic  credentials, 
General  Taylor  was  ordered  to  transport  his  cannon  and  plant  them  in  a 
warlike  attitude  opposite  to  Matamoras,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Rio  Bravo, 
within  the  very  disputed  territory  the  adjustment  of  which  was  to  be  the 
object  of  Mr.  Slidell's  mission.  What  else  could  have  transpired  but  a  con 
flict  of  arms? 

"Thus  the  war  commenced;  and  the  president,  after  having  produced  it, 
appealed  to  Congress.  A  bill  was  proposed  to  raise  fifty  thousand  volun 
teers,  and,  in  order  to  commit  all  who  should  vote  for  if,  a  preamble  was 
inserted,  falsely  attributing  the  commencement  of  the  war  to  the  act  of  Mex- 


262  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

ico.  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  patriotic  motives  of  those  who,  after  struggling 
to  divest  the  bill  of  that  flagrant  error,  found  themselves  constrained  to  vote 
for  it.  But  I  must  say  that  no  earthly  consideration  would  have  ever 
tempted  or  provoked  me  to  vote  for  a  bill  with  a  palpable  falsehood  stamp 
ed  on  its  face.  Almost  idolizing  truth  as  I  do,  I  never,  never  could  have 
voted  for  that  bill." 

Our  last  war  with  Great  Britain  Mr.  Clay  characterizes  as 
"  u  just  war.  Its  great  object,  announced  at  the  time,  was  free 
trade  and  sailors'  rights  against  the  intolerable  arid  oppressive 
acts  of  British  power  on  the  ocean."  He  continues  : — 

"How  totally  variant  is  the  present  war!  This  is  no  war  of  defence,  but 
one  unnecessary  and  of  offensive  aggression.  It  is  Mexico  that  is  defending 
her  firesides,  her  castles,  and  her  altars,  not  we.  And  how  different  also  is 
the  conduct  of  the  whig  party  of  the  present  day  from  that  of  the  major 
part  of  the  federal  party  during  the  war  of  1812!  Far  from  interposing 
any  obstacles  to  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  if  the  whigs  in  office  are  re- 
proachable  at  all,  it  is  for  having  lent  too  ready  a  facility  to  it,  without 
careful  examination  into  the  objects  of  the  war.  And,  out  of  office,  who 
have  rushed  to  the  prosecution  of  the  war  with  more  ardor  and  alacrity 
than  the  whigs?  Whose  hearts  have  bled  more  freely  than  those  of  the 
whigs?  Who  have  more  occasion  to  mourn  the  loss  of  sons,  husbands,  broth 
ers,  fathers,  than  whig  parents,  whig  wives,  and  whig  brothers,  in  this 
deadly  and  unprofitable  strife?" 

The  twenty-ninth  Congress,  the  first  which  met  under  the  ad 
ministration  of  Mr.  Polk,  found  the  country  prosperous  and  con 
tented.  Under  the  equitable  tariff  of  1842,  domestic  industry,  in 
all  its  branches,  received  a  wholesome  measure  of  protection  and 
encouragement.  Our  exports  and  imports  exhibited  neither  an 
undue  expansion  nor  a  contraction  indicative  of  a  public  financial 
decline.  The  revenue  of  the  country  was  steady,  ample,  and 
reliable  ;  and  the  public  debt  which  Mr.  Van  Buren's  adminis 
tration  had  originated  and  fostered,  was  diminishing  at  the  rate 
of  millions  annually.  At  length  it  seemed  that  the  fluctuations 
to  which  the  trade  and  industrial  enterprise  had  been  subjected, 
in  consequence  of  Locofoco  assaults  upon  the  tariff,  were  at  an 
end  ;  and  that  commerce  and  manufactures  were  about  to  be 
established  on  a  stable  basis.  The  bitter  hostility  of  the  south 
to  the  protective  system  was  fast  abating ;  and  ;n  the  states 
of  Georgia  and  Virginia  factories  were  going  up  and  new  re 
sources  developing  themselves,  as  if  to  strengthen,  by  the  ties 
of  interest,  the  sympathies  of  different  sections  of  the  country 
upon  a  subject  which  had  been  rife  with  portents  of  fraternal 
discord  and  disunion. 


PHILOSOPHY    OF    THE    PROTECTIVE    PRINCIPLE.  263 

Undeterred  by  this  spectacle  of  prosperity  and  harmony,  the 
administration  laid  its  profane  hands  upon  the  tarirfof  1842.  In 
its  stead  they  gave  us  that  of  1846.  By  this  substitute,  there  is 
actual  discrimination  against  portions  of  the  labor  of  the  United 
States,  and  in  favor  of  that  of  foreign  countries.  Owing  to  ex- 
raordinary  causes,  among  which  the  famine  in  Europe  and  the 
war  with  Mexico  are  prominent,  we  have  not  yet  fully  realized 
the  legitimate  consequences  of  this  disastrous  retrograde  move 
ment  in  the  policy  of  the  country. 

In  a  letter  bearing  date  the  5th  of  June,  1846,  Mr.  Clay  ex 
plained  the  whole  practical  philosophy  of  the  protective  principle 
in  the  following  luminous  remarks  : — 

"The  manufactures  of  Great  Britain  have  reached  a  very  high  degree  of 
perfection  by  means  of  her  great  capital,  her  improving  skill  and  machin 
ery,  her  cheap  labor,  and  under  a  system  of  protection  long,  perseveringly, 
and  vigorously  enforced.  She,  moreover,  possesses  an  immense  advantage 
for  the  sale  and  distribution  of  her  numerous  manufactures,  in  her  vast 
colonial  possessions,  from  which  those  of  foreign  powers  are  either  entirely 
excluded,  or  admitted  on  terms  very  unequally  with  her  own.  I  am  not 
therefore  surprised,  that,  under  these  favorable  circumstances,  Great  Britain 
should  herself  be  desirous  to  adopt,  and  to  prevail  on  other  nations  to  adopt, 
the  principle  of  free-trade.  I  shall  be  mistaken  if  any  of  the  great  nations 
of  the  continent  should  follow  an  example  the  practical  effects  of  which  will 
be  so  beneficial  to  her,  and  so  injurious  to  them.  The  propriety  of  afford 
ing  protection  to  domestic  manufactures,  its  degree,  and  its  duration,  de 
pend  upon  the  national  condition  and  the  actual  progress  they  have  made. 
Each  nation,  of  right,  ought  to  judge  for  itself.  I  believe  that  history  re 
cords  no  instance  of  any  great  and  prosperous  nation,  which  did  not  draw 
its  essential  supplies  of  food  and  raiment  from  within  its  own  limits.  If  all 
nations  were  just  commencing  their  career,  or  if  their  manufactures  had  all 
made  equal  progress,  it  might  perhaps  be  wise  to  throw  open  the  markets 
of  the  world  to  the  freest  and  most  unrestricted  competition.  But  it  is 
manifest  that  while  the  manufactures  of  some  have  acquired  all  the  ma 
turity  and  perfection  of  which  they  are  susceptible,  and  those  of  others  are 
yet  in  their  infancy,  struggling  hard  for  existence,  a  free  competition  be 
tween  them  must  redound  to  the  advantage  of  the  experienced  and  skilful, 
and  to  the  injury  of  those  who  are  just  beginning  to  naturalize  and  establish 
the  arts. 

"No  earthly  gratification  to  the  heart  of  a  statesman  can  be  greater  than 
that  of  having  contributed  to  the  adoption  of  a  great  system  of  national  pol 
icy,  and  of  afterward  witnessing  its  complete  success  in  its  practical  opera 
tion.  That  gratification  can  be  enjoyed  by  those  who  were  instrumental  in 
establishing  the  policy  of  protecting  our  domestic  manufactures.  Every 
promise  which  they  made  has  been  fulfilled.  Every  prediction  which  they 
hazarded  as  to  the  quality  and  quantity  of  the  domestic  supply,  as  to  the 
reduction  of  prices,  as  to  the  effect  of  competition  at  home,  and  as  to  the 
abundance  of  the  public  revenue,  has  been  fully  realized.  And  it  is  no  less 
remarkable  that  every  counter  prediction  without  exception  of  the  oppo 
nents  of  the  policy  has,  in  the  sequel,  been  entirely  falsified. 


264  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"Without  tracing  particularly  the  operation  of  our  earlier  tariffs,  adjusted 
both  to  the  objects  of  revenue  and  protection,  and  coming  down  to  the  last, 
it  seems  to  me  that  if  there  were  ever  a  beneficial  effect  from  any  publio 
measure  fully  demonstrated,  it  is,  that  the  tariff  of  1842,  beyond  all  contro 
versy,  relieved  both  the  government  and  the  people  of  the  United  State* 
from  a  state  of  pecuniary  embarrassment  bordering  on  bankruptcy.  Enter 
taining  these  views  and  opinions,  I  should  deeply  regret  any  abandonment 
of  the  policy  of  protection,  or  any  material  alteration  of  the  tariff  of  1842, 
which  has  worked  so  well.  If  its  operation  had  been  even  doubtful,  would 
it  not  be  wiser  to  await  further  developments  from  experience  before  we 
plunge  into  a  new  and  unexplored  theory?  Scarcely  any  misfortune  is  so 
great  to  the  business  and  pursuits  of  a  people  as  that  of  perpetual  change.* 

In  a  letter  of  September  10,  1846,  written  subsequent  to  the 
abolition  of  the  tariff  of  '42,  Mr.  Clay  remarked  :  "  I  believe  the 
system  of  protection,  notwithstanding  the  opposition  which  it 
has  often  encountered,  has  pushed  the  nation  forward  half  a  cen 
tury  in  advance  of  where  it  would  have  been  if  the  doctrines  of 
free-trade  had  always  prevailed  in  our  public  councils.  Whether 
it  will  be  pushed  back  again  to  the  same  or  any  other  extent  by 
the  tariff  recently  established,  which  has  sought  to  subvert  the 
previous  system,  and  to  embody  those  doctrines,  remains  to  be 
seen.  I  confess  that  I  seriously  apprehended  great  injury  to  the 
general  business  of  the  country,  arid  ultimately  to  the  revenue  of 
the  government." 

The  sub-treasury  system,  adopted  August,  1846,  has  been 
found  injurious  to  the  public  interests,  unwieldy,  expensive,  and 
liable  to  the  grossest  abuses.  But  the  war  and  the  tariff  have 
diverted  public  attention  from  its  practical  operation.  In  his 
message  of  December,  1847,  the  president  says  :  "The  consti 
tutional  treasury  created  by  this  act  went  into  operation  on  the 
first  of  January  last.  Under  the  system  established  by  it,  the 
public  moneys  have  been  collected,  safely  kept,  and  disbursed, 
by  the  direct  agency  of  officers  of  the  government,  in  gold  and 
silver  ;  and  transfers  of  large  amounts  have  been  made  from 
points  of  collection  to  points  of  disbursement,  without  loss  to  the 
treasury,  or  injury  or  inconvenience  to  the  trade  of  the  country.'' 
With  treasury-notes  below  par,  as  they  were  about  the  time  of 
the  promulgation  of  these  assertions,  it  may  easily  be  seen  why 
there  should  have  been  great  facilities  of  transfer  ;  but  there  have 
been  repeated  instances  of  great  losses  to  the  country  in  conse 
quence  of  the  defects  and  evils  01  the  sub-treasury  system.  Tho 


FRUITS    OF    THE    WAR.  265 

only  class  benefited  by  its  operation  are  the  officeholders  and  the 
favored  financiers  of  the  government.  According  to  Mr;  Folk's 
own  confession,  "  in  some  of  its  details,  not  involving  its  general 
principles,  the  system  is  defective,  and  will  require  modification." 
We  have  thus  glanced  briefly  at  some  of  the  measures  of  Mr.  Folk's 
administration.  To  enumerate  all  that  it  has  left  undone,  which  il 
ought  to  have  done,  had  the  best  interests  of  the  country  been  con 
sulted,  would  be  but  to  capitulate  many  of  those  objects  of  policy 
which  the  public  career  of  Mr.  Clay  exhibits  him  as  contending  for. 

The  consequences  of  his  non-election  to  the  presidency  have 
been  —  an  unrighteous  and  demoralizing  war;  the  abrogation  of 
a  tariff  under  which  the  country  was  thriving  beyond  all  prece 
dent  ;  and  the  establishment  of  a  sub-treasury :  for  all  which,  in 
the  language  of  the  "  ancient  mariner"  of  Coleridge,  we  — 

"Penance  much  have  done, 
And  penance  more  must  do." 

"  At  the  commencement  of  the  war,"  says  Mr.  Hudson,  in  his 
speech  before  the  house,  February  5th,  1848,  "  our  finances  were 
in  the  most  prosperous  condition,  there  being  a  surplus  of  ten 
millions  of  dollars  in  the  treasury.  And  now,  after  the  war  had 
been  prosecuted  twenty  months,  we  are  on  the  verge  of  bank  - 
ruptcy.  We  have  consumed  the  ordinary  revenue,  exhausted  the 
ten  millions  surplus,  together  with  a  loan  on  treasury-notes  to  the 
amount  of  thirty-three  millions,  and  are  now  called  upon  for  a 
grant  of  sixteen  millions  more,  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  gov 
ernment  during  the  present  fiscal  year ;  and  this  sum,  I  am  per 
suaded,  will  be  found  too  small  by  eight  or  ten  millions.  So 
that,  when  the  war  shall  have  continued  twenty-five  months,  we 
shall  have  expended  in  addition  to  the  accruing  revenue,  some 
sixty-eight  millions  of  dollars.  This  is  but  a  part  of  the  burdens 
brought  upon  us  by  this  unnecessary  war.  Our  munitions  of 
war,  have  been  accumulating  for  years  in  our  arsenals,  some  fif 
teen  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  our  public  domain  given,  or  to 
be  given,  in  bounty  to  our  soldiers,  and  long  lists  of  pensions  and 
private  claims  growing  out  of  the  war- — these  should  be  taken  into 
the  account,  and  will  go  far  in  increasing  the  sum.  These  are 
some  of  the  pecuniary  burdens  which  a  weak  and  wicked  ad 
ministration  have  wantonly  brought  upon  the  people." 
L 


266  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAF. 

XXV. 

PUBLIC    TESTIMONIALS THE    IRISH    FAMINE. 

WE  have  seen  that  neither  the  untoward  issue  of  the  presiden 
tial  contest  of  1844,  nor  the  shades  of  Ashland,  could  remove  Mr 
Clay  from  before  the  public  eye.  Though  not  president  of  the 
United  States,  though  dispensing  no  patronage,  and  holding  no 
power  of  promotion,  he  yet  exercised  a  moral  sway  over  his 
countrymen  which  station  could  never  give,  nor  the  removal  of  it 
take  away.  Though  not  chief  magistrate,  he  was  still  chief  cit 
izen  of  the  republic  ;  and  though  he  could  not  bestow  lucrative 
posts  and  profitable  jobs,  he  could  communicate  what  was  far 
better — high  convictions  of  public  duty,  generous  views  of  public 
policy,  and  great  truths,  which  his  past  acts  and  present  opinions 
commended  to  every  patriotic  mind. 

Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  testimony  in  his  honor 
which  the  whig  ladies  of  Virginia  resolved  upon  soon  after  his 
defeat.  Their  proceedings  were  denounced  by  some  loyal  loco- 
fcco  as  a  "  movement  conceived  in  a  spirit  of  rebellion  to  public 
sentiment."  Rather  were  they  a  token  of  sympathy  with  the 
beatings  of  the  public  heart.  These  ladies  determined  to  pro 
cure  a  statue  of  Henry  Clay  to  adorn  the  metropolis  of  his  native 
state,  and  liberally  have  they  carried  out  their  plan  ;  employing 
a  native  artist,  Mr.  Joel  T.  Hart,  to  execute  the  work,  and  munif 
icently  providing  the  means  for  its  accomplishment.  Mr.  Hart, 
having  modelled  the  statue,  has  gone  to  Europe  to  cut  it  in  mar 
ble.  A  competent  critic  thus  describes  the  model :  — 

"Mr.  Hart  has  blended  the  idea  and  spirit  of  action  with  the  actual  pres 
ence  and  exhibition  of  repose — the  latter  always  so  essential  to  the  highest 
and  most  agreeable  effect  of  the  sculptor's  art.  Mr.  Clay  is  represented  rest 
ing  the  weight  of  his  body  principally  upon  his  right  foot,  the  left  being 
thrown  a  little  forward,  and  the  toes  turned  out.  The  head  is  sufficiently 
erect  to  give  dignity  and  spirit  to  the  general  bearing,  without  approaching 
the  offensive  and  vulgar  line  of  arrogance  and  self-esteem,  and  the  face  is 
turned  slightly  to  the  right,  in  the  direction  of  the  corresponding  arm.  The 
fingers  of  the  left  hand  rest  lightly  and  gracefully  upon  a  pedestal,  appro 
priately  placed,  while  his  right  arm,  just  fallen  from  an  uplifted  position,  ia 
sufficiently  extended  from  the  elbow  to  show,  with  the  open  and  forward 
looking  palm,  action  just  finished  instead  of  continuous  and  habrtual  repose 


TESTIMONIALS    OF    ESTEEM.  2i*7 

The  face  is  full  of  lofty  animation,  self-possession,  and  the  repose  of  conscious 
power. 

"  The  costume  is  a  simple  citizen's  dress,  such  as  Mr.  Clay  usually  wears. 
The  coat,  unbuttoned,  is  loose  enough  not  to  be  stiff  and  formal ;  shoes  are 
worn  instead  of  boots,  according  to  Mr.  Clay's  invariable  custom ;  and  the 
shirt-collar  is  turned  down,  not  according  to  his  custom,  but  as  a  matter  of 
great  convenience,  if  not  necessity  to  the  artist,  in  the  exhibition  of  the  neck 
and  throat" 

During  his  visit  to  Washington  in  the  winter  of  1848,  an  ex 
cellent  full-length  likeness  of  Mr.  Clay  was  taken  by  Chester 
Harding,  of  Massachusetts.  It  was  procured  by  the  voluntary 
subscription  of  the  people  of  Washington,  in  testimony  of  their 
appreciation  of  the  noble  qualities  and  public  services  of  one  who 
had  spent  so  long  a  portion  of  his  life  in  their  midst,  during  which 
he  had  so  completely  won  their  esteem  and  affection. 

Few  public  men  ever  had  such  troops  of  devoted  friends  as 
Mr.  Clay.  It  is  not  by  professions  only  that  their  devotion  is 
manifested.  In  the  spring  of  1845,  he  met  with  a  substantial,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  a  most  touching  and  signal  proof  of  the  estima 
tion  in  which  he  is  held.  A  number  of  friends,  residing  in  the 
eastern  states,  having  learned  indirectly  that  a  considerable  por 
tion  of  Mr.  Clay's  entire  property  was  about  to  be  swept  away 
to  pay  the  notes  of  one  of  his  family  connection,  on  which  he  was 
endorser,  quietly  raised  the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and 
paid  the  notes  at  the  bank  in  which  they  were  deposited.  The 
first  intimation  which  he  had  of  the  movement  was  the  reception 
of  his  cancelled  obligation  ;  and  not  a  name  was  disclosed  of  the 
individuals  who  had  had  any  agency  in  the  transaction. 

The  artisans  and  mechanics  of  the  country  have,  in  instances 
too  numerous  to  mention,  shown  their  sense  of  the  efficient  sup 
port  which  Mr.  Clay  has  always  rendered  to  the  cause  of  Amer 
ican  industry  and  skill.  In  the  autumn  of  1845,  the  working 
gold  and  silver  artificers  of  the  city  of  New  York  presented  him 
a  silver  vase  three  feet  high,  neatly  and  elaborately  chased,  and 
bearing  a  complimentary  inscription.  Its  value  was  a  thousand 
dollars.  Mr.  Clay  has  more  reason  than  people  are  generally 
aware  of  to  feel  a  sympathy  with  the  mechanic  classes.  His 
only  surviving  full  brother  was  once  a  very  skilful  cabinet-maker, 
and  several  specimens  of  his  handywork  remain  among  the  fur 
niture  afu  Ashland. 


268  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

In  November,  1846,  a  magnificent  vase  was  presented  to  Mr 
Clay  by  the  ladies  of  Tennessee.  His  address  upon  the  occa 
sion  of  receiving  the  donation  contains  so  much  of  public  inter 
est,  that  we  quote  it  entire  : 

"DR.  M'NAIRY: — It  is  no  ordinary  occurrence,  nor  any  common  mission, 
that  honors  me  by  your  presence.  To  be  deputed,  as  you  have  been,  by  a 
large  circle  of  Tennessee  ladies,  to  bear  the  flattering  sentiment  toward  me 
which  you  have  just  so  eloquently  expressed,  and  to  deliver  to  me  the  pre 
cious  testimonial  of  their  inestimable  respect  and  regard  which  you  have 
brought,  is  a  proud  incident  in  my  life,  ever  to  be  remembered  with  feelings 
of  profound  gratitude  and  delight. 

"  My  obligation  to  those  ladies  is  not  the  less,  for  the  high  opinion  of  me 
which  they  do  me  the  honor  to  entertain  ;  because  I  feel  entirely  conscious 
that  I  owe  it  more  to  their  generous  partiality  than  to  any  merits  I  pos 
sess,  or  to  the  value  of  any  public  services  which  I  have  ever  been  able  to 
render. 

"  If,  indeed,  their  kind  wishes  in  relation  to  the  issue  of  the  last  presi 
dential  election  had  been  gratified,  I  have  no  doubt  that  we  should  have 
avoided  some  of  those  public  measures,  so  pregnant  with  the  evils  to  our 
country,  to  which  you  have  adverted.  We  should  have  preserved,  undis 
turbed,  and  without  hazard,  peace  with  all  the  world,  have  had  no  unhappy 
war  with  a  neighboring  sister-republic,  and,  consequently,  no  deplorable 
waste  of  human  life,  of  which  that  which  has  been  sacrificed  or  impaired  in 
an  insalubrious  climate,  is  far  greater  and  more  lamentable  than  what  has 
been  lost  in  the  glorious  achievements  of  a  brave  army,  commanded  by  a 
skilful  and  gallant  general. 

"  We  should  have  saved  the  millions  of  treasure  which  that  unnecessary 
war  has  and  will  cost — an  immense  amount — sufficient  to  improve  every  use 
ful  harbor  on  the  lakes,  on  the  ocean,  on  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  in  the  in 
terior,  and  to  remove  obstructions  to  navigation  in  all  the  great  rivers  in  the 
United  States. 

"We  should  not  have  subverted  a  patriotic  system  of  domestic  protection, 
fostering  the  industry  of  our  own  people  and  the  interests  of  our  own  coun 
try,  the  great  benefits  which  have  been  practically  demonstrated  by  experi 
ence,  for  the  visionary  promises  of  an  alien  policy  of  free  trade,  fostering  the 
industry  of  foreign  people  and  the  interests  of  foreign  countries,  which  has 
brought  in  its  train  disaster  and  ruin  to  every  nation  that  has  had  the  temer 
ity  to  try  it.  The  beneficial  tariff  of  1842,  which  raised  both  the  people 
and  the  government  of  the  United  States  out  of  a  condition  of  distress  and 
embarrassment,  bordering  on  bankruptcy,  to  a  state  of  high  financial  and 
general  prosperity,  would  now  be  standing  unimpaired,  in  the  statute- 
book,  instead  of  the  fatal  tariff  of  1846,  whose  calamitous  effects  will,  I  ap 
prehend,  sooner  or  later,  be  certainly  realized. 

"All  this,  and  more  of  what  has  since  occurred  in  the  public  councils,  was 
foretold  prior  to  that  election.  It  was  denied,  disbelieved,  or  unheeded ;  and 
we  now  realize  the  unfortunate  consequences.  But  both  philosophy  and 
patriotism  enjoin  that  we  should  not  indulge  in  unavailing  regrets  as  to  the 
incurable  past.  As  a  part  of  history  in  which  it  is  embodied,  we  may  derive 
from  it  instructive  lessons  for  our  future  guidance,  and  we  ought  to  redouble 
our  exertions  to  prevent  their  being  unprofitably  lost. 

"  I  receive,  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  the  splendid  and  magnificent  vase 
of  silver  which  the  ladies  of  Tennessee,  whom  you  represent,  hav«j  charged 


AT    ASHLAND.  269 

you  to  present  to  me.  Wrought  by  American  artists,  tendered  by  my  fair 
countrywomen,  and  brought  to  me  by  an  ever-faithful,  ard-ant,  and  dis 
tinguished  friend,  it  comes  with  a  triple  title  to  my  grateful  acceptance.  I 
request  you  to  convey  to  those  ladies  respectful  and  cordial  assurances  of  my 
warm  and  heartfelt  thanks  and  acknowledgments.  Tell  them  I  will  care 
fully  preserve,  during  life,  and  transmit  to  my  descendants,  an  unfading  rec 
ollection  of  their  signal  and  generous  manifestations  of  attachment  and 
confidence.  And  tell  them,  also,  that  my  fervent  prayers  shall  be  offered  up 
for  their  happiness  and  prosperity,  and  shall  be  united  with  theirs  that  they 
may  live  to  behold  our  country  emerged  from  the  dark  clouds  which  encom 
pass  it,  and  once  more,  as  in  better  times,  standing  out.  a  bright  and  cheer 
ing  example,  the  moral  and  political  model  and  guide,  the  hope,  and  the 
admiration,  of  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

"  I  should  entirely  fail,  Dr.  M'Nairy,  on  this  interesting  occasion,  to  give 
utterance  to  my  feelings,  if  I  did  not  eagerly  seize  it  to  express  to  you,  my 
good  friend,  my  great  obligations  for  the  faithful  and  uninterrupted  friend 
ship  which,  in  prosperous  and  adverse  fortune,  and  amid  all  the  vicissitudes 
of  my  chequered  life,  you  have  constantly,  zealously,  and  fearlessly  displayed. 
May  you  yet  long  live,  in  health,  happiness,  and  prosperity,  and  enjoy  the 
choicest  blessings  of  a  merciful  and  bountiful  Providence." 

Engaged  in  legal  and  agricultural  pursuits,  receiving  continued 
testimonials  of  the  esteem  and  gratitude  of  his  countrymen,  and 
making  occasional  excursions,  Mr.  Clay  passed  the  greater  por 
tion  of  the  two  years  which  succeeded  the  contest  of  1844.  A 
letter,  which  bears  the  date  of  Lexington,  May  25,  1845,  gives 
a  pleasing  picture  of  the  genial  simplicity  and  hospitality  to  be 
found  at  Ashland  :  — 

"  I  have  at  last  realized  one  of  my  dearest  wishes — that  of  seeing  Mr.  Clay 
at  Ashland.  I  called  on  him  with  a  friend,  this  morning,  but  he  was  absent 
on  his  farm,  and  Charles,  his  freed  slave,  told  us  he  would  not  be  at  home 
till  afternoon  ;  so  we  returned  to  Lexington,  and,  at  five,  P.  M.,  retraced  our 
steps  to  Ashland.  Mr.  Clay  had  returned,  and  meeting  us  at  the  door,  took 
hold  of  our  hands  before  I  could  even  present  a  letter  of  introduction,  and 
made  us  welcome  to  his  house.  His  manners  completely  overcame  all  the 
ceremonies  of  speech  I  had  prepared.  We  were  soon  perfectly  at  home,  as 
every  one  must  be  with  Henry  Clay,  and,  in  a  half-hour's  time,  we  had  talked 
about  the  various  sections  of  the  country  I  had  visited  the  past  year,  Mr. 
Clay  occasionally  giving  us  incidents  and  recollections  of  his  own  life  ;  and 
I  felt  as  though  I  had  known  him  personally  for  years. 

"  Mr.  Clay  has  lived  at  Ashland  forty  years.  The  place  bore  the  name 
when  he  came  to  it,  as  he  says,  probably  on  account  of  the  ash  timber,  with 
which  it  abounds ;  and  he  has  made  it  the  most  delightful  retreat  in  all  the 
west.  The  estate  is  about  six  hundred  acres  large,  all  under  the  highest  cul 
tivation,  except  some  two  hundred  acres  of  park,  which  is  entirely  cleared 
of  underbrush  and  small  trees,  and  is,  to  use  the  words  of  Lord  Morpeth, 
who  stayed  at  Ashland  nearly  a  week,  the  nearest  approach  to  an  English 
park  of  any  in  this  country.  It  serves  also  for  a  noble  pasture,  and  here  1 
saw  some  of  Mr.  Clay's  fine  horses  and  Durham  catfle.  He  is  said  to  have 
eome  of  the  finest  stock  in  all  Kentucky,  which  is  to  say,  the  finest  in  Amer 
ica  ;  and,  if  I  am  able  to  judge,  I  confirm  that  report  The  larger  part  of 


270  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

his  farm  is  devoted  to  wl.eat,  rye,  hemp,  &c.,  and  his  crops  look  most 
splendidly.  He  has  also  paid  great  attention  to  ornamenting  his  lands  with 
beautiful  shade-trees,  shrubs,  flowers,  and  fruit  orchards.  From  the  road, 
-yhich  passes  his  place  on  the  northwest  side,  a  carriage-road  leads  up  to  the 
house,  lined  with  locust,  cypress,  cedar,  and  other  rare  trees,  and  the  rose, 
jasmine,  and  ivy,  were  clambering  about  them,  and  peeping  through  the 
grass  and  the  boughs  like  so  many  twinkling  fairies,  as  we  drove  up. 

"  Ashland  is  about  a  mile  from  Lexington,  easterly,  on  the  road  leading 
out  of  Main  street,  and  is  one  of  the  loveliest  situations  around  this  delight 
ful  town.  Mr.  Clay's  mansion  is  nearly  hidden  from  the  road  by  the  trees 
surrounding  it,  and  is  as  quiet  and  secluded,  save  to  the  throng  of  pilgrims 
continually  pouring  up  there  to  greet  its  more  than  royal  possessor,  as  though 
it  were  in  the  wilderness.  Some  parts  of  it  are  now  undergoing  repairs,  and 
Mr.  Clay  took  us  about  to  see  his  contemplated  improvements.  The  houses 
of  his  slaves  are  all  very  neat,  and  surrounded  by  better  gardens,  and  more 
flowers  and  shrubbery,  than  one  half  the  farmhouses  in  the  country,  and  all 
the  inmates  ai«e  as  happy  as  human  beings  can  be.  '  Charles,'  of  whom  so 
much  has  been  said,  is  a  kind  of  second  master  of  the  household  of  Mr.  Clay, 
and  enjoys  the  greatest  trust  and  confidence.  To  him  can  the  keys  of  the 
wine-cellar  be  given  without  fear,  and  on  all  occasions,  when  help  was 
needed,  Mr.  Clay  would  call  for  Charles.  It  was  Charles  who  brought  us 
wine,  Charles  was  at  the  door,  at  the  carriage,  at  the  gate,  everywhere,  in 
fact,  and  as  polite  and  civil  as  a  man  asking  for  office.  He  is  a  fine-looking, 
middle-sized  negro,  about  thirty  years  old,  and  I  do  not  believe  he  could  be 
drawn  from  Mr.  Clay  except  by  absolute  animal  force,  so  great  is  his  devotion 
to  him.  As  I  said,  Mr.  Clay  has  lived  at  Ashland  forty  years.  He  said  he 
had  seen  Cincinnati  grow  from  a  small  village  to  its  present  size,  and  had 
witnessed  the  growth  of  much  of  the  west  at  the  same  time.  Beside  the  six 
hundred  acres,  he  has  about  two  hundred  acres  at  a  distance,  in  the  rear  of 
Ashland,  and  these  two  lots  form  his  estate. 

"As  it  was  nearly  night  when  we  called  on  Mr.  Clay,  we  had  hardly  time 
to  see  things  properly,  and  he  urged  me  to  come  up  again.  I  went  up  the 
day  following,  in  company  with  the  'Swiss  Bell-Ringers,' who  were  also  on 
a,  visit  to  Ashland.  Mr.  Clay  received  the  band  and  myself  warmly  at  the 
door,  and,  after  a  few  civilities,  put  on  his  white  hat  and  walked  through  the 
grounds  with  us,  talking  freely  and  familiarly  to  all.  He  is  the  most  easy 
and  affable  man  I  have  ever  seen.  He  picked  a  rose  for  each  of  us:  mine  I 
have  most  carefully  pressed,  and  shall  give  it  to  my  lady-love,  when  I  find 
one,  and  she  may  consider  it  a  prize !  He  told  me,  while  we  were  walking, 
about  Lord  Morpeth's  early  rising  at  Ashland,  and  said  that  his  lordship  used 
to  go  on  foot  a  mile  down  to  the  postoffice,  and  bring  up  the  mail  before  he 
was  out  of  bed.  Of  Morpeth,  Mr.  Clay  spoke  in  the  highest  terms. 

'•After  an  hour  spent  in  the  park  and  garden,  the  bell-ringers  proposed 
giving  Mr.  Clay  and  his  family  a  specimen  of  their  music,  and  we  of  course 
adjourned  to  the  house.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  I  saw  Mrs.  Clay,  and  a  son, 
Mr.  John  Clay.  Mr.  Clay  was  expecting  the  bell-ringers,  and  had  invited  for 
the  occasion  a  few  friends.  They  performed  before  him  to  his  very  great 
delight.  On  this  occasion,  Mr.  Clay  sent  for  some  of  his  home-made  wine 
pressed  at  Ashland  from  the  Catawba  grape.  It  was  most  delicious  ;  some 
thing  like  sparkling  hock  in  flavor,  but  of  a  richer  taste.  After  performing 
•everal  pieces  in  the  house,  the  bell-ringers  went  out  into  the  park,  and 
rang  the  chimes  on  a  peal  of  twelve  bells,  their  auditors  remaining  in 
the  house.  I  never  heard  anything  so  bewitching  as  the  sound  of  the  bells 
during  that  chime.  Mr.  Clay  said  he  would  be  glad  to  have  a  chapel  ia 


AT    NEW    ORLEANS.  271 

She  park,  if  he  could  always  hear  such  voices  from  it.    It  was  to  me  a  rare 
treat 

"  On  Sunday,  the  day  following  my  last  visit  to  Ashland,  I  could  not  resist 
the  inclination  to  see  once  more  a  place  to  me  so  very  hallowed.  On  my 
way  up  I  passed  Mr.  Clay,  who,  with  his  wife,  had  started  for  church. 
'Alas!'  thought  I,  as  I  looked  upon  his  high,  calm  brow,  for  the  last  time,  can 
this  be  the  gambler,  sabbath-breaker,  blasphemer,  all  these  vile  characters 
•combined,  which  have  been  ascribed  to  him,  and  cried  abroad  by  men  whose 
lips  were  too  foul  to  speak  as  great  a  name  as  he  will  bear  when  they  and 
iheir  memories  are  less  than  ashes?'  One  hour  with  Mr.  Clay  at  home, 
stamps  libel  on  all  these  execrable  lies,  and  he  who  enjoys  that  hour  says  in 
bis  heart,  'That  is  the  simplest  and  noblest  man  I  ever  looked  upon.'" 

Mr.  Clay  passed  a  good  part  of  the  winter  and  spring  of  1 846 
in  New  Orleans,  whither  he  had  been  called  by  professional 
business.  It  would  be  but  a  repetition  of  past  scenes  to  describe 
with  what  a  warmth  of  welcome  he  was  received.  He  took  oc 
casion,  on  his  departure,  to  visit  St.  Louis,  where  he  arrived  on 
the  4th  of  April,  and  met  with  a  most  enthusiastic  reception. 
He  reached  his  residence  at  Ashland,  on  the  22d  of  that  month, 
with  his  health  much  benefite.l  by  the  travel  and  relaxation  he 
had  enjoyed. 

An  attempt  was  made,  the  succeeding  winter,  to  induce  Mr. 
Clay  to  accept  an  election  to  the  United  States  senate,  to  fill  the 
vacancy  occasioned  by  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Morehead,  whose 
term  was  to  expire  the  next  4th  of  March  ;  but  Mr.  Clay  per 
emptorily  declined  the  honor.  He  was  again  in  New  Orleans 
the  succeeding  winter.  He  was  present  at  the  celebration  of  the 
anniversary  of  the  landing  of  the  pilgrims,  the  22dof  December; 
and  is  reported  by  one  of  the  newspapers  of  the  day  to  have  re 
marked,  on  being  called  upon  to  reply  to  a  complimentary 
toast :  — 

"Although  leading  a  life  of  retirement,  I  am  not  wholly  unobservant  of 
the  proceedings  relating  to  the  condition,  welfare,  and  prospects,  of  our 
country.  And  when  I  saw  around  me  to-night,  General  Brooke  and  other 
old  friends,  I  felt  half  inclined  to  ask  for  some  nook  or  corner  in  the  army, 
in  which  I  might  serve,  to  avenge  the  wrongs  done  to  my  country.  I  have 
thought  that  I  might  yet  be  able  to  capture  or  slay  a  Mexican.  I  shall  not 
be  able  to  do  so,  however,  this  year,  but  hope  that  success  will  still  crown 
our  gallant  arms,  and  the  war  terminate  in  an  honorable  peace." 

These  remarks  have  been  the  subject  of  some  ridiculously 
severe  animadversions.  If  they  are  correctly  reported — which 
is  very  doubtful — who  that  knows  Mr.  Clay,  does  not  recognise 
the  half-sportive,  ironical  spirit,  in  which  they  were  intended  * 


272  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

At  the  social  table,  not  dreaming,  probably,  that  there  were 
"  chiels"  about  him  "  takin'  notes,"  a  ludicrous  image  starts  into 
his  mind,  and  he  gives  it  utterance.  The  idea  that  he  would 
be  so  far  inflamed  with  martial  ardor,  and  catch  the  warlike  in 
fection,  as  to  shoulder  a  musket,  presents  itself  to  his  mind  and 
drops  from  his  lips  in  a  purely  jocose,  conversational  tone.  But 
it  is  at  once  taken  up  and  misrepresented  by  his  opponents. 

While  in  New  Orleans,  early  in  1847,  the  wail  of  famishing 
Ireland  fell  on  the  ears  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  at  once  aroused  the 
warmest  sympathies  of  his  heart.  Being  invited  to  attend  a 
meeting  held  in  aid  of  the  sufferers,  he  went ;  and,  being  loudly 
called  for  by  those  present,  addressed  them  as  follows  :  — 

"MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS : — 

"  I  hesitated  to  accept  the  invitation  which  has  brought  me  here.  Being 
a  mere  sojourner,  and  not  a  member  of  this  community,  I  doubted  the  pro 
priety  of  my  presence  and  participation  in  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting, 
and  apprehended  that  my  motive  might  be  misunderstood.  But — on  con 
sulting  my  pillow,  and  considering  that  the  humanity  of  the  object  of  this 
assembly  is  bounded  by  no  latitude  nor  locality,  and  ought  to  be  co-extensive 
with  the  whole  human  family — it  seemed  to  me  that  all  considerations  of 
fastidious  delicacy  and  etiquette  should  be  waived  and  merged  into  a  gener 
ous  and  magnanimous  effort  to  contribute  to  the  relief  of  the  sufferings  which 
have  excited  our  feelings.  If  I  should  be  misconceived  or  misrepresented, 
the  experience  of  a  long  life  has  taught  me  that  the  best  response  to  miscon 
ception  and  misrepresentation,  is  the  fearless  and  faithful  discharge  of  duty, 
in  all  the  conditions  of  life  in  which  we  may  be  placed;  and  the  answer  to 
traduction  and  calumny,  is  conscious  rectitude  and  the  approbation  of  one's 
own  heart. 

"  Mr.  President — If  we  were  to  hear  that  large  numbers  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Asia,  or  Africa,  or  Australia,  or  the  remotest  part  of  the  globe,  were  daily 
dying  with  hunger  and  famine — no  matter  what  their  color,  what  their  re 
ligion,  or  what  their  civilization — we  should  deeply  lament  their  condition, 
and  be  irresistibly  prompted,  if  possible,  to  mitigate  their  sufferings.  But 
it  is  not  the  distresses  of  any  such  distant  regions  that  have  summoned  ua 
together  on  this  occasion.  The  appalling  and  heart-rending  distresses  of 
Ireland  and  Irishmen,  form  the  object  of  our  present  consultation.  That 
Ireland,  which  has  been  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  our  national  existence  our 
friend,  and  has  ever  extended  to  us  her  warmest  sympathy — those  Irishmen, 
who,  in  every  war  in  which  we  have  been  engaged,  on  every  battle-field, 
from  Quebec  to  Monterey,  have  stood  by  us,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  shared 
in  all  the  perils  and  fortunes  of  the  conflict. 

"The  imploring  appeal  comes  to  us  from  the  Irish  nation,  which  is  so 
identified  with  our  own  as  to  be  almost  part  and  parcel  of  ours — bone  of 
our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh.  Nor  is  it  any  ordinary  case  of  human 
misery,  nor  a  few  isolated  cases  of  death  by  starvation,  that  we  are  called 
upon  to  consider.  Famine  is  stalking  abroad  throughout  Ireland — whole 
towns,  counties — countless  human  beings,  of  every  age  and  of  both  sexes,  at 
this  very  moment,  are  starving,  or  in  danger  of  starving  to  death  for  bread. 
Of  all  the  forms  of  dissolution  of  human  life,  the  pangs  and  agony  of  that 


SPEECH    IN    BEHALF    OF    FAMISHING    IRELAND.  273 

•which  proceeds  from  famine  are  the  most  dreadful.  If  one  dies  fighting 
gloriously  for  his  country,  he  is  cheered  in  his  expiring  moments  by  the  pa 
triotic  nature  of  his  sacrifice.  lie  knows  that  his  surviving  relatives  and 
friends,  while  lamenting  his  loss,  will  be  gratified  and  honored  by  his  devo 
tion  to  his  country.  Poets,  painters,  sculptors,  historians — will  record  hig 
deeds  of  valor  and  perpetuate  his  renown.  If  he  dies  by  the  sudden  ex 
plosion  of  the  boilers  of  a  steamboat,  or  by  a  storm  at  sea,  death  is  quiet 
and  easy,  and  soon  performs  his  mission.  A-few  piercing  shrieks  are  uttered, 
he  sinks  beneath  the  surface,  and  all  is  still  and  silent.  But  a  death  by 
starvation  comes  slow,  lingering,  and  excruciating.  From  day  to  day,  the 
wretched  victim  feels  his  flesh  dwindling,  his  speech  sinking,  his  friends  fall 
ing  around  him,  and  he  finally  expires  in  horrible  agony. 

"Behold  the  wretched  Irish  mother — with  haggard  looks  and  streaming 
oyes — her  famished  children  clinging  to  her  tattered  garments,  and  gazing 
piteously  in  her  face,  begging  for  food  !  And  see  the  distracted  husband- 
father,  with  pallid  cheeks,  standing  by,  horror  and  despair  depicted  in  his 
countenance — tortured  with  the  reflection  that  he  can  afford  no  succor  or 
relief  to  the  dearest  objects  of  his  heart,  about  to  be  snatched  for  ever  from 
him  by  the  most  cruel  of  all  deaths. 

"  This  is  no  fancy  picture ;  but,  if  we  are  to  credit  the  terrible  accounts 
which  reach  us  from  that  theatre  of  misery  and  wretchedness,  is  one  of  daily 
occurrence.  Indeed,  no  imagination  can  conceive — no  tongue  express — no 
pencil  paint — the  horrors  of  the  scenes  which  are  there  daily  exhibited. 
Ireland,  in  respect  to  food,  is  differently  situated  from  all  the  countries  of  the 
world.  Asia  has  her  abundant  supply  of  rice  ;  Africa,  her  dates,  yams,  and 
rice;  Europe,  her  bread  of  wheat,  rye,  and  oats;  America,  a  double  resource 
in  the  small  grains,  and  a  never-failing  and  abundant  supply  of  Indian  corn 
—that  great  supporter  of  animal  life,  for  which  we  are  not  half  grateful 
enough  to  a  bountiful  and  merciful  Providence.  But  the  staple  food  of  large 
parts  of  poor  Ireland  is  the  potato,  and  when  it  fails,  pinching  want  and 
famine  follow.  It  is  among  the  inscrutable  dispensations  of  Providence,  that 
the  crop  has  been  blighted  these  last  two  years ;  and  hence  the  privation  of 
food,  and  this  appeal  to  the  sympathy  of  American  hearts. 

"  Shall  it  be  in  vain  ?  Shall  starving  Ireland — the  young  and  the  old — 
dying  women  and  children — stretch  out  their  hands  to  us  for  bread,  and  find 
no  relief?  Will  not  this  great  city,  the  world's  storehouse  of  an  exhaustless 
supply  of  all  kinds  of  food,  borne  to  its  overflowing  warehouses  by  tho 
Father  of  Waters,  act  on  this  occasion  in  a  manner  worthy  of  its  high  destiny, 
and  obey  the  noble  impulses  of  the  generous  hearts  of  its  blessed  inhabi 
tants?  We  are  commanded,  by  the  common  Savior  of  Ireland  and  of  us, 
to  love  one  another  as  ourselves ;  and  on  this,  together  with  one  higher 
obligation,  hang  all  the  law  and  prophets  of  our  holy  religion.  We  know, 
that  of  all  the  forms  of  humanity  and  benevolence,  none  is  more  acceptable, 
in  the  sight  of  God,  than  the  practice  of  charity.  Let  us  demonstrate  our 
love,  our  duty,  and  our  gratitude  to  him,  by  a  liberal  contribution  to  the 
relief  of  his  suffering  Irish  children. 

"Fellow-citizens,  no  ordinary  purpose  has  brought  us  together.  This  is 
no  political  gathering.  If  it  had  been,  you  would  not  have  seen  me  here, 
I  have  not  come  to  make  a  speech.  When  the  heart  is  full,  and  agitated  by 
its  own  feeling  emotions,  the  paralyzed  tongue  finds  utterance  difficult.  It 
is  not  fervid  eloquence,  nor  gilded  words,  that  Ireland  needs — but  substan 
tial  food.  Let  us  rise  to  the  magnitude  of  the  duty  which  is  before  us,  and 
by  a  generous  supply  from  the  magnitude  of  our  means,  evince  the  genuine 
ness  and  cordiality  of  our  sympathy  and  commiseration." 

L*  18 


274  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  speech,  one  loud  and  unanimous  shout 
of  approval  was  raised,  in  which  officers  and  audience  partici 
pated.  The  effect  of  the  speech  is  well  told  in  a  letter  addressed 
to  Mr.  Clay  by  two  Irishmen  of  New  York,  and  accompanied  with 
an  elegant  gift  of  cutlery.  They  say  :  — 

"It  was  the  good  fortune  of  one  of  us,  to  hear  your  speech  in  behalf  of 
the  famishing  millions  of  our  native  land,  when  in  New  Orleans  on  business 
during  that  dreadful  winter  of  1846-'47  ;  it  has  since  been  the  fortune  of  the 
other  to  hear  and  to  witness  in  Ireland,  and  elsewhere  in  Europe,  the  admi 
ration  and  gratitude  which  that  speech  has  excited ;  it  is  the  pleasing  duty 
of  both  to  thank  God  that  your  thrilling  appeal  to  the  best  feelings  of  our 
common  humanity  was  the  means,  by  stimulating  the  energies  of  ever- 
blessed  charity  among  the  American  people,  of  saving  thousands  of  our 
countrymen  from  a  death  of  agony  and  horror.  It  must  be  an  abiding  joy 
to  your  generous  heart,  to  know  that  American  benevolence  is  devoutly 
blessed  in  parishes  and  cabins,  where  even  your  name,  illustrious  as  it  is,  had 
hardly  been  heard  before  the  famine;  and  that  thousands  have  been  im 
pelled,  by  their  deliverance  from  the  worst  effects  of  that  dire  calamity,  to 
invoke  blessings  on  the  head  of  HENRY  CLAY. 

"  You  have  often,  and  most  appropriately,  received  at  the  hands  of  your 
countrymen  by  birth,  fitting  acknowledgments  of  your  services,  in  the  shape 
of  rare  products  of  their  unsurpassed  mechanical  ingenuity  and  skill.  Our 
humble  offering  is  the  work  of  foreign  artisans,  in  grateful  acknowledgment 
of  your  powerful  aid  to  an  oppressed  and  suffering  race  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  We  trust  it  may  not,  on  that  account,  be  unacceptable,  but 
that,  among  your  many  tokens  of  American  esteem  and  thankfulness,  a 
single  remembrance  of  the  tears  of  gratitude  which,  at  the  mention  of  your 
name,  have  bedewed  the  cheek  of  suffering  Ireland  may  not  be  unwelcome." 

"  I  must  have  had  a  heart  colder  than  stone,"  says  Mr.  Clay  in 
reply,  "  if  I  had  been  capable  of  listening  to  the  sad  account  of 
Irish  distress  without  the  deepest  emotions.  My  regret  was,  that 
I  could  do  little  or  nothing  to  mitigate  the  sufferings  of  a  generous 
and  gallant  people.  Nor  did  my  own  countrymen,  I  am  fully  per 
suaded,  require  any  stimulus  from  me,  to  prompt  them  to  extend 
all  practicable  succors,  to  those  with  whom  we  are  intimately  con 
nected  by  so  many  pleasing  ties." 


DEATH    OF    HIS    SON    AT    BUENA    VISTA.  275 

XXVI. 

WAR    IN    MEXICO DEATH    OF    HENRY    CLAY,  JR. 

/ 

THE  war  with  Mexico  was,  in  its  results,  as  honorable  to  the 
army  of  the  United  States,  as,  in  its  origin,  it  was  disgraceful  to 
the  administrations  of  Messrs.  Tyler  and  Polk.  The  series  of 
brilliant  successes  achieved  under  Generals  Taylor  and  Scott — 
the  rapidly  succeeding  victories  of  Palo  Alto,  Resaca  de  la  Palma, 
Monterey,  Buena  Vista,  Cerro  Gordo,  Churubusco,  and  Chepul- 
tepec  — are  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  modern  warfare,  in  the 
numerical  inferiority  of  the  forces  by  which  vast  numbers  were 
overcome. 

It  was  with  heavy  forebodings  that  Mr.  Clay  left  New  Orleans 
Our  gallant  army  under  Taylor,  was  known  to  be  in  a  situation 
of  great  peril,  surrounded  by  overwhelming  numbers  of  the  enemy, 
and  depending  solely  upon  the  personal  courage  of  the  officers 
and  men,  united  to  the  intrepidity  and  sagacity  of  their  revered 
general,  for  its  safety.  Mr.  Clay's  son  Henry,  had  quitted  the 
practice  of  the  law,  and  hastened  to  join  the  standa  d  of  his 
country  in  Mexico,  early  in  the  contest,  and  was  now  with  Taylor 
at  Buena  Vista.  This  generous-spirited  young  man  was  born  in 
1811.  Having  graduated  with  high  honors  at  West  Point  acade 
my,  he  had  studied  law,  married,  travelled  a  while  in  Europe, 
and  returned  to  Kentucky,  to  serve  his  country  on  the  battle-field 
when  the  occasion  invited. 

As  Mr.  Clay  was  leaving  Frankfort  for  Ashland,  he  received 
the  melancholy  intelligence  of  the  death  of  his  son.  The  paper 
containing  the  news  was  handed  to  him  by  a  friend,  and  he  care 
fully  read  it  until  he  came  to  the  sad  announcement.  Then  he 
trembled  like  an  aspen,  but  uttered  no  word,  save  a  command  to 
the  driver  to  move  on.  "  Amid  all  the  clustering  honors  of  his 
elevated  career,"  says  a  writer  of  the  day,  "  Mr.  Clay  has  been 
a  man  of  sorrows.  The  affections  of  his  home  have  been  great 
as  his  own  heart,  and  have  yearned  over  his  children  with  an  in 
tensity  of  love  which  only  noble  natures  know.  But — 
"  Affliction  seemed  enamored  of  his  parts ;' 


276  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

death  has  been  busy  about  his  hearthstone  ;  and  one  by  one  he 
has  seen  many  of  those  who  so  proudly  claimed  him  as  father  or 
grandsire,  taken  from  him.  Their  heritage  of  love  devolved 
upon  the  survivors  ;  and  his  son,  who  bore  his  name  and  shared 
his  virtues,  was  the  pride  and  glory  of  his  honored  old  age.  But 
his  country  demanded  that  son.  The  struggle  of  the  father's 
heart  must  have  been  a  mighty  one  ;  but  he  devoted  him  —  as  he 
had  devoted  his  own  lustrous  life — to  his  country.  The  heroism 
of  Colonel  Clay,  rendered  it  certain  that  his  career  would  be 
brilliant,  but  probable  that  it  would  also  be  brief.  Mr.  Clay 
seemed  to  feel  a  parental  presentiment  that  such  would  be  tho 
fact.  We  rejoice  that  the  unhappy  tidings  found  him  at  home 
and  among  his  kindred  (though  all  the  land  is  his  home,  and  every 
heart  his  kindred),  where  his  tears  could  mingle  with  those  of 
the  stricken  partner  of  his  afflictions.  We  dare  not,  even  in 
imagination,  intrude  upon  the  scene  made  sacred  by  sorrow  :  yet 
we  know  enough  of  the  hero-statesman  to  believe  that,  even  in 
his  hour  of  desolation,  the  pride  of  the  patriot  and  the  parent  may 
afford  some  solace,  and  that  the  sentiment  of  Cato  over  his  sacri 
fice  will  rise  from  his  heart :  — 

'  I'm  satisfied ! 

Thanks  to  the  gods !  my  son  has  done  his  duty. 
How  beautiful  is  death  when  earned  by  virtue  ! 
Who  would  not  be  that  youth?     What  pity  is  it 
That  we  can  die  but  once  to  serve  our  country !' " 

The  following  letter  from  General  Taylor,  communicating  the 
afflicting  intelligence  to  Mr.  Clay,  is  as  honorable  to  the  writer  as 
it  is  to  the  departed  hero  :  — 

"  HEADQUARTERS,  ARMY  OF  OCCUPATION,  I 
"  AGUA  NEUVA,  MEXICO,  March  1, 1847.      3 

"MY  DEAR  SIR:  You  will  no  doubt  have  received,  before  this  can  reach 
you,  the  deeply  distressing  intelligence  of  the  death  of  your  son  in  the  battle 
of  Buena  Vista.  It  is  with  no  wish  of  intruding  upon  the  sanctuary  of 
parental  sorrow,  and  with  no  hope  of  administering  any  consolation  to  your 
wounded  heart,  that  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  addressing  you  these  few 
lines ;  but  I  have  felt  it  a  duty  which  I  owe  to  the  memory  of  the  dis 
tinguished  dead,  to  pay  a  willing  tribute  to  his  many  excellent  qualities,  and 
while  my  feelings  are  still  fresh,  to  express  the  desolation  which  his  untimely 
loss,  and  that  of  other  kindred  spirits,  have  occasioned. 

"  I  had  but  a  casual  acquaintance  with  your  son,  until  he  became  for  a 
time  a  member  of  my  military  family,  and  I  can  truly  say,  that  no  one  evei 
won  more  rapidly  up'on  my  regard,  or  established  a  more  lasting  claim  to 


LETTER  FROM  GENERAL  TAYLOR.  277 

my  respect  and  esteem.  Manly  and  honorable  in  every  impulse,  with  no 
feeling  but  for  the  honor  of  the  service  arid  of  the  country,  he  gave  every 
assurance  that  in  the  hour  of  need,  I  could  lean  with  confidence  upon  hi? 
support.  IS  or  was  I  disappointed.  Under  the  guidance  of  himself  and  the 
lamented  M'Kee,  gallantly  did  the  sons  of  Kentucky,  in  the  thickest  of  the 
strife,  uphold  the  honor  of  the  state  and  the  country. 

"A  grateful  people  will  do  justice  to  the  memory  of  those  who  fell  on  that 
eventful  day.  But  I  may  be  permitted  to  express  the  bereavement  which  I 
feel  in  the  loss  of  valued  friends.  To  your  son,  I  felt  bound  by  the  strongest 
ties  of  private  regard,  and  when  I  mis's  his  familiar  face  and  those  of  M'Kee 
and  Hardin,  I  can  say  with  truth  that  I  feel  no^ exultation  in  our  success. 

"  With  the  expression  of  my  deepest  and  most  heartfelt  sympathies  for 
your  irreparable  loss,  I  remain  your  friend,  "Z.  TAYLOR. 

"Hon.  HENRY  CLAY,  New  Orleans,  La." 

General  Taylor  has  always  been  forward  to  appreciate  and 
recognise  the  eminent  public  services  and  claims  of  Mr.  Clay. 
In  a  letter  to  Joseph  R.  Ingersoll,  dated  August  3,  1847,  he 
writes  :  "  At  the  last  presidential  canvass,  it  was  well-known  to 
all  with  whom  I  mixed,  whigs  and  democrats  —  for  I  had  no  con 
cealments  in  the  matter  —  that  I  was  decidedly  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Clay's  election  ;  and  I  would  now  prefer  seeing  him  in  that  office 
to  any  individual  in  the  Union."  This  is  sufficiently  emphatic. 
Lasting  honor  to  the  tried  and  honorable  soldier,  who  can  thus 
yield  the  palm  to  civic  worth  and  qualifications  ! 

"  My  life  has  been  full  of  domestic  afflictions,  but  this  last  is 
one  of  the  severest  among  them,"  wrote  Mr.  Clay  to  a  friend  soon 
after  the  news  of  the  fall  of  his  son.  The  ensuing  8th  of  April, 
in  a  letter  to  a  committee  of  the  whigs  of  Auburn,  he  alluded  to 
the  Mexican  war  in  the  following  terms  :  — 

"  You  express  your  regret  on  account  of  the  unexpected  issue  of  the  last 
presidential  election.  I  ought  to  feel  none  for  myself  personally.  Besides 
being  relieved  from  a  vast  responsibility,  it  furnished  the  occasion  of  the 
exhibition  of  testimonials,  and  the  outpouring  of  affection  from  the  hearts 
of  my  friends  and  countrymen,  of  which  I  had  no  previous  conception 
that  I  ever  could  be  the  honored  object.  Their  spontaneous  and  disin 


terested  manifestations  are  worth  far  more  than  the  presidency  itself. 
For  our  common  country,  I  do  regret  the  issue  of  the  contest.  Had  it  been 
otherwise,  we  should  have  preserved  the  protective  policy,  under  which 
we  had  made  such  rapid  and  encouraging  advances;  the  march  of  im 
provement  in  our  rivers  and  harbors,  would  not  have  been  arrested ;  and, 
above  all,  we  should  have  avoided  this  unnecessary  war  of  aggression 
•with  a  neighbor,  torn  to  pieces  by  internal  dissensions.  The  brilliant  achieve 
ments,  and  the  glorious  laurels  acquired,  during  its  prosecution,  gratifying 
as  they  are  to  our  national  pride  and  character,  can  never  compensate  for 
the  exceptionable  manner  in  which  it  was  begun,  the  brave  and  patriotic 
lives  which  have  been  sacrificed,  and  the  fearful  issues  which,  I  tremble  in 
contemplating,  may  grow  out  of  its  termination.  But  I  have  not  now  B 


278  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

heart  to  dwell  on  this  painful  theme.  I  turn  from  it  with  hope  and  dutiful 
submission  to  Him  whose  no  doubt  wise  but  inscrutable  dispensation  has  per 
mitted  this  awful  calamity  to  visit  our  beloved  country." 

An  interest!  vg  event  transpired  at  Ashland,  during  the  summer 
of  1847.  It  can  best  be  told  in  the  language  of  an  eyewitness, 
under  date  of  June  25th  :  — 

"  A  notice  was  very  generally  circulated  through  the  public  papers  of  the 
country,  some  two  or  three  years  ago,  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Clay  had  become 
a  member  of  the  protestant  episcopal  church.  The  wish  was  doubtless 
father  to  the  thought,  as  Mr.  Clay  had  not  at  that  time  taken  any  such  step. 
He  has  always  been  known  to  have  the  highest  respect  for  the  institutions 
of  Christianity,  and  to  have  been  a  decided  believer  in  the  Divine  authen 
ticity  of  the  Christian  religion — his  amiable  and  now  deeply-afflicted  wife 
having,  for  many  years,  been  an  humble  follower  of  its  blessed  Author. 
When  the  weather  permitted  it,  living  as  he  does  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
church,  Mr.  Clay  has  always  been  a  regular  attendant  on  its  services ;  and 
for  two  or  three  years  past,  having  had  more  leisure  from  public  duty,  his 
attention  had  evidently  been  turned  to  the  high  considerations  connected 
with  things  spiritual  and  eternal — his  life  having  been  devoted  so  intensely 
to  the  good  of  others,  as  scarcely,  until  this  period  of  retirement,  to  leave 
him  an  opportunity  to  think  of  himself.  But  he  has  at  length  consecrated 
his  great  powers  to  God.  He  was  baptized  in  the  little  parlor  at  Ashland, 
on  Tuesday,  the  22d  instant,  together  with  one  of  his  daughters-in-law  (the 
other  being  already  a  member  of  the  church)  and  her  four  children,  by  the 
Rev.  Edward  F.  Berkley,  rector  of  Christ  church,  Lexington.  The  baptism 
was  administered  privately,  for  the  reason  that  the  congregation  of  Christ 
church  are  replacing  their  old  church  with  a  new  edifice,  now  in  rapid  prog 
ress  of  erection,  and  are  not  suitably  situated  for  the  most  solemn  and  de 
cent  administration  of  this  rite  in  public. 

"  When  the  minister  entered  the  room,  on  this  deeply  solemn  and  interest 
ing  occasion,  the  small  assembly,  consisting  of  the  immediate  family,  a  few 
family  connexions,  and  the  clergyman's  wife,  rose  up.  In  the  middle  of  the 
room  stood  a  large  centre-table,  on  which  was  placed,  filled  with  water,  the 
magnificent  cut-glass  vase  presented  to  Mr.  Clay  by  some  gentlemen  of  Pitts- 
burg.  On  one  side  of  the  room  hung  the  large  picture  of  the  family  of 
Washington,  himself  an  episcopalian  by  birth,  by  education,  and  a  devout 
communicant  of  the  church ;  and  immediately  opposite,  on  a  side-table, 
stood  the  bust  of  the  lamented  Harrison,  with  a  chaplet  of  withered  flowers 
hung  upon  his  head,  who  was  to  have  been  confirmed  in  the  church  the  sab 
bath  after  he  died — fit  witnesses  of  such  a  scene.  Around  the  room  were 
suspended  a  number  of  family  pictures,  and  among  them  the  portrait  of  a 
beloved  daughter,  who  died  some  years  ago,  in  the  triumphs  of  that  faith 
which  her  noble  father  was  now  about  to  embrace  ;  and  the  picture  of  the 
late  lost  son,  who  fell  at  the  battle  of  Buena- Vista.  Could  these  silent 
lookers-on  at  the  scene  about  transpiring,  have  spoken  from  the  marble  and 
the  canvass,  they  would  heartily  have  approved  the  act  which  dedicated  the 
great  man  to  God.  There  was  a  deep  emotion  pervading  that  small  assem 
bly,  at  the  recital,  under  such  circumstances,  of  the  sublime  ordinal  of  the 
church," 

Early  m  the  ensuing  August,  Mr.  Clay  left  Kentucky  to  try  the 
benefit  of  sea-bathing  at  Cape  May.  On  the  14th  of  that  month 


VISIT    Id    CAPE    MAY.  27S 

he  reached  Philadelphia,  having  been  greeted  at  every  stopping- 
place  on  his  route,  with  the  sympathizing  respects  and  enthusi 
astic  cheers  of  the  people.  At  Philadelphia,  he  became  the 
guest  of  Mr.  Henry  White.  An  immense  multitude  soon  assem 
bled  before  the  house,  anxious  to  catch  sight  of  the  venerated 
statesman.  When  he  appeared  on  the  balcony,  the  manifestations 
of  enthusiasm  and  of  welcome  were  indescribable  ;  every  man 
of  the  vast  crowd  seemed  anxious  to  extend  a  personal  token  of 
admiration  and  attachment.  When  silence  was  restored,  Mr. 
Clay  remarked  that  he  had  come  to  the  city  without  any  intention 
—  certainly  without  any  desire  —  of  causing  such  a  manifestation. 
He  had  left  his  home  for  the  purpose  of  escaping  from  afflicting 
and  perpetually  recurring  feelings  ;  in  the  hope  of  finding  among 
the  friends  whom  he  might  meet  during  his  travels,  a  portion  of 
consolation  for  the  heaviest  affliction  Providence  had  ever  visited 
upon  him  :  but  under  whatever  circumstances  he  might  have 
come,  he  would  be  void  of  gratitude,  he  would  be  destitute  of  all 
the  finer  feelings  of  nature,  if  he  failed  in  thankfulness  for  the 
kindness  so  manifested.  The  city  of  Philadelphia,  he  was  proud 
to  say,  had,  during  all  the  trials,  difficulties,  and  vicissitudes  of 
his  chequered  career,  been  his  warm  and  steadfast  friend. 

But  if  even  the  occasion  were  not  unfit,  the  feelings  under 
which  he  labored  would  prevent  him  frem  seizing  upon  it  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  set  speech ;  and  in  parting,  he  would  only 
add  the  expression  of  a  wish  —  as  the  day  which  ushers  in  the 
sabbath,  that  all  men  should  respect,  was  nearly  spent — that 
they  would  unite  with  him  in  the  sentiment,  that  to  our  country, 
whether  it  is  directed  in  its  public  measures  by  a  good  govern 
ment  or  a  bad  one  —  whether  it  is  in  prosperity  or  adversity  —  in 
peace  or  at  war — we  should  always  give  our  hearts,  our  hands, 
and  our  hopes.  Mr.  Clay  then  bade  his  fellow-citizens  farewell, 
and  retired  amid  the  stormy  plaudits  and  affectionate  "  good- 
nights"  of  the  dispersing  multitude. 

At  Cape  May,  Mr.  Clay  was  the  object  of  renewed  testimo 
nials  of  public  love  and  regard.  The  country  people  for  miles 
around  crowded  to  see  him,  while  all  the  visiters  to  the  island 
vied  with  each  other  in  demonstrations  of  honor  and  sympathy. 
On  the  afternoon  of  the  18th,  he  experienced  a  somewhat  narrow 


280  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

escape  from  serious  injury.  Riding  out  on  the  beach  in  company 
with  a  young  lady  from  Kentucky  and  two  of  his  friends,  in  Mr 
Brolaskey's  coach,  drawn  by  four  spirited  horses  —  on  their  re 
turn,  the  driver,  in  curbing  one  of  the  leaders  rather  suddenly, 
caused  him  to  commence  kicking.  Both  leaders  then  kicked  the 
horses  behind  them,  and  these  jumped  and  reared  until  they 
broke  the  shaft,  and  ran  the  carriage  into  the  fence.  Just  before 
it  struck,  Mr.  Clay  seized  the  young  lady  in  his  arms,  opened  the 
door,  and  leaped  out  of  the  carriage  unhurt,  before  the  driver  or 
any  of  the  bystanders  could  render  assistance.  The  carriage 
rolled  on,  struck  the  fence,  and  was  considerably  damaged. 

While  sojourning  at  this  pleasant  watering-place,  delegates 
from  New  York  and  New  Haven,  made  a  trip  to  Cape  May  pur 
posely  to  invite  him  to  visit  their  cities.  The  scene  of  their  in 
terview  with  him,  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  animating 
that  had  been  experienced  even  in  the  career  of  one  who  had  so 
long  been  the  subject  of  public  honors  the  most  grateful  and 
estimable.  It  took  place  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Mansion  house, 
which  was  crowded  on  the  occasion  with  spectators,  many  of 
whom  were  ladies.  After  appropriate  music  from  a  good  band, 
Mr.  Clay  made  his  appearance,  and  Mr.  Nicholas  Dean,  who 
had  been  commissioned  as  their  spokesman  by  the  New  York 
delegation,  addressed  him  as  follows  :  — 

"Through  the  unexpected  kindness  of  friends,  I  am  the  honored  instru 
ment  of  expressing  to  you,  sir,  briefly,  sentiments  which  are  common  to  us 
all.  You  are  surrounded  by  a  few  of  your  fellow-citizens  from  the  city  of 
New  York — not  the  result  of  political  association,  not  the  offspring  of  party 
organization — who  had  individually  learned  from  the  public  press  that  you 
were  sojourning  in  their  vicinity,  and  who,  by  one  simultaneous  impulse, 
threw  themselves  on  board  a  swift  means  of  communication,  and  hastened 
here  to  grasp  you  by  the  hand,  and  offer  to  you  the  homage  of  their  warm 
salutations.  [Cheers  and  other  manifestations  of  applause.] 

"But,  sir,  we  have  another  and  more  important  duty  to  perform  ;  we 
come  in  the  names  of  four  hundred  thousand  persons,  to  ask  you  once  again 
to  visit  our  metropolis.  [Applause.]  Once  again  to  permit  us,  within  the 
circle  of  our  own  corporate  limits,  to  express  to  you  our  deep  appreciation 
of  the  eminent  services  which  you,  through  a  long  series  of  years  have  ren 
dered,  not  to  us  only,  but  to  our  whole  country;  [cheers  of  applause]  once 
again  to  furnish  us  the  opportunity  of  expressing  to  you  our  undiminished 
confidence  and  esteem,  the  love,  the  reverence  with  which  we  regard  you. 
[Continued  applause.] 

"  These,  sir,  are  no  ordinary  sentiments,  nor  are  they  felt  in  any  ordinary 
degree.  They  are  the  warm  and  hearty  expressions  of  a  generous  and 
grateful  spirit;  suffer  them  not  to  be  chilled  by  deferred  hope,  or  in  any 


REPLY  TO  THE  NEW  YORK  DELEGATION.        28* 

degree  repressed  by  present  disappointment.  Permit  us,  we  pray  you,  sir 
to  announce  to  our  fr.ends  with  the  speed  of  lightning  that  [with  emphasis], 
Henry  Clay  will  come  to  them.  [Applause  loud  and  long.] 

•'  A  hundred  thousand  tongues  are  waiting  to  spread  the  glad  intelligence, 
and  the  great  aggregate  heart  of  our  entire  city  is  throbbing  to  bid  you  wel 
come,  thrice  welcome,  to  its  hospitalities."  [Cheers,  cheers,  cheers.] 

During  the  delivery  of  this  address,  Mr.  Clay  seemed  grate 
fully  touched,  and  after  a  pause  of  a  few  moments,  he  replied  in 
the  following  language  :  — 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  committee  from  New  York — gentlemen  of  the  com' 
mittee  from  Trenton — gentlemen  of  the  committee  from  New  Haven — > 
gentlemen  of  the  committee  from  Philadelphia — for  there  are  delegations 
present  from  all  these  places — fellow-citizens :  the  eloquent  address,  which 
has  just  been  delivered,  has  had  the  effect  almost  to  induce  me  to  adopt  the 
language  which  was  used  on  a  more  solemn  occasion.  'Thou  almost  per- 
suadest  me,'  to  go.  [Great  applause.]  But  in  all  that  uprightness  of  nature 
which  I  have  ever  endeavored  to  practise,  I  must  tell  you  the  objects  and 
motives  which  have  brought  me  to  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic.  I  returned 
to  my  residence,  after  passing  the  winter  at  New  Orleans,  on  the  twenty- 
third  or  twenty-fourth  of  March  last,  and  in  a  day  or  two  afterward  melan 
choly  intelligence  reached  me.  [Here  Mr.  Clay  evinced  great  emotion.]  I 
have  been  nervous  ever  since,  and  was  induced  to  take  this  journey;  for  I 
could  not  look  upon  the  partner  of  my  sorrows  without  experiencing  deeper 
anguish.  [The  speaker  was  here  overcome  by  his  feelings,  and  paused  some 
minutes,  covering  his  face  with  his  hands  ;  at  length  recovering  himself,  he 
resumed.]  Everything  about  Ashland  was  associated  with  the  memory  of 
the  lost  one.  The  very  trees  which  his  hands  had  assisted  me  to  plant  served 
to  remind  me  of  my  loss.  Had  the  stroke  come  alone,  I  could  have  borne 
it,  with  his  assistance,  and  sustained  by  the  kindness  of  my  friends  and  fellow- 
citizens,  with  meekness  and  resignation ;  but  of  eleven  children,  four  only 
remain — [emotion] — of  six  lovely  and  affectionate  daughters,  not  one  is  left. 
Finding  myself  in  that  theatre  of  sadness,  I  thought  I  would  fly  to  the 
mountain's  top,  and  descend  to  the  ocean's  wave,  and  by  meeting  with  the 
sympathy  of  friends,  obtain  some  relief  for  the  sadness  which  surrounded 
me.  I  came  for  private  purposes,  and  from  private  motives  alone.  I  have 
not  sought  these  public  manifestations,  nor  have  I  desired  to  escape  them. 
My  friend  and  travelling  companion,  Dr.  Mercer,  will  tell  you  that  in  Vir 
ginia — in  every  section  of  the  state  of  my  birth — I  have  been  implored  to 
remain,  if  only  for  a  few  hours,  to  exchange  congratulations  with  my  friends, 
but  I  invariably  refused,  and  only  remained  in  each  place  sufficiently  long  to 
exchange  one  vehicle  for  another.  You  may  imagine  that  I  made  a  visit  to 
Philadelphia — but  I  was  accidentally  thrown  into  Philadelphia.  When  I 
arrived  in  Baltimore,  I  learned  that  the  most  direct  route  to  this  place  was 
by  the  Delaware.  I  had  no  public  object  in  view.  Indifferent  I  am  not, 
nor  can  I  be,  to  the  honor,  welfare,  and  glory  of  my  country.  [Cheers.] 
Gentlemen  of  the  committee  of  New  York,  I  have  truly  and  sincerely  dis 
closed  the  purpose  of  my  journey,  but  I  can  not  but  deeply  feel  this  mani 
festation  of  your  respect  and  regard.  It  is  received  with  thankfulness,  and 
reaches  the  warmest  feelings  of  my  heart — that  I,  a  private  and  humble 
citizen,  without  an  army,  without  a  navy,  without  even  a  constable's  staff, 
should  have  been  met,  at  every  step  of  my  progress,  with  the  kindest  mani 
festations  of  feelings — manifestations  of  which,  at  present,  a  monarch  or  an 


282  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

emperor  might  well  be  proud.  [Tremendous  applause.]  No — I  am  not  in 
sensible  to  these  tokens  of  public  affection  and  regard.  I  am  thankful  for 
them  all.  [Cheers.]  To  you,  gentlemen,  of  the  committee  of  New  York, 
who,  in  behalf  of  four  hundred  thousand  individuals  whom  you  represent, 
have  taken  so  much  trouble,  I  am  deeply  thankful  for  this  manifestation  of 
your  regard,  but  I  must  reluctantly  decline  the  honor  of  your  invitation. 
To  the  citizens  of  Trenton,  New  Haven,  and  Philadelphia,  I  must  beg  [here 
Mr.  Clay  addressed  the  committees  from  the  other  places]  of  you,  to  excuse 
me ;  and  trust  to  their  affection  to  do  so ;  for  if  I  do  not  place  myself  on  the 
affections  of  my  countrymen,  whither  should  I  go,  and  where  should  I  be  ? 
On  the  wide  ocean,  without  a  compass,  and  without  a  guide.  [Very  great 
applause.]  I  must  beg  of  you,  gentlemen  of  all  these  committees,  to  retrace 
your  steps,  charged  and  surcharged  with  my  warmest  feelings  of  gratitude. 
Go  back,  charged  with  warm  thanks  from  me,  and  tell  my  friends  that 
nothing  but  the  circumstances  in  which  I  am  placed — nothing  else  (for  we 
may  as  well  mingle  a  laugh  with  our  tears,  and  borrow  the  words  of  the  Irish 
ambassador),  '  situated  as  I  am,  and  I  may  say,  circumstanced  as  I  am' — de 
prives  me  of  the  honor  of  meeting  you.  [Laughter.]  Tell  them,  and  I  hope 
this  response  will  be  considered  as  a  specific  answer  to  each  of  the  commit 
tees  (for  if  you  could  see  how  my  time  is  occupied  here,  you  would  know 
it  is  impossible  for  me  to  waste  it),  that  you  are  charged  with  the  expression 
of  the  best  feelings  of  my  heart.  And  you,  gentlemen  of  New  York,  be  as 
sured  that  it  will  be  long  before  this  evidence  of  your  regard  will  be  for 
gotten.  Among  the  recollections  of  the  incidents  of  this  journey,  this  visit 
will  be  paramount,  and  the  circumstances  which  led  to  it.  I  wish  you  an 
agreeable  voyage  on  your  return ;  and  make  my  apologies  for  being  con 
strained  to  decline  your  kind  invitation." 

After  passing  a  few  days  at  Newcastle  with  his  friend  the 
Hon.  John  M.  Clayton,  and  having  been  absent  from  home  about 
a  month,  Mr.  Clay  returned  to  Kentucky,  reinvigorated  in  health 
and  spirits,  and  carrying  with  him  new  stores  of  recollections  of 
honors,  and  testimonials  of  attachment,  with  which  his  country* 
men  had  everywhere  marked  his  progress. 


SPEECH    ON    THE    MEXICAN    WAR.  283 

XXVII. 
SPEECH    ON    THE    MEXICAN    WAR. 

IN  every  important  engagement  in  Mexico  our  sffmies  had 
been  successful.  The  victory  of  Buena- Vista  had  been  a  fitting 
climax  to  the  military  operations  of  Taylor  ;  and  Scott  had 
achieved  a  new  conquest  of  Mexico  hardly  less  marvellous  than 
that  which  Cortez  had  accomplished  centuries  before.  The  city 
of  the  Montezumas  was  occupied  by  our  troops.  The  fortresses 
of  the  country  and  her  principal  port  were  in  our  possession. 
Mexico  was  at  our  feet ;  and  the  question  was,  "  What  is  to  be 
done  with  our  victory  ?" 

Some  were  for  annexing  the  whole  country.  Others  were  for 
drawing  a  line,  and  claiming  all  inside  of  it.  Some  were  for 
despoiling  Mexico  ;  and  others  were  for  magnanimously  aban 
doning  all  the  fruits  of  our  conquest.  At  this  juncture,  the  13th 
of  November,  1847,  Mr.  Clay,  whose  views  upon  the  subject  had 
been  looked  for  with  solicitude,  lifted  his  voice  in  behalf  of  the 
humane,  the  honorable,  and  the  politic  course.  It  was  at  Lex 
ington  that  his  speech  on  the  Mexican  war  was  delivered.  An 
immense  concourse  of  citizens  was  present  to  hear  him.  Among 
them  were  Senator  Crittenden,  Governor  Letcher,  the  honorable 
Garrett  Davis,  and  a  whole  host  of  distinguished  Kentuckians 
and  eminent  strangers  from  other  states,  as  well  as  many  ladies, 
who  all  listened  with  the  deepest  attention.  Mr.  Clay  is  repre 
sented  as  having  spoken  with  all  the  fervor  and  animation  of  his 
younger  life  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  length  of  the  speech  and 
his  energetic  deliverance,  and  the  fact  that  his  voice  had  been 
impaired  by  a  speech  of  more  than  three  hours'  duration,  which 
professional  duty  had  required  him  to  make  only  a  few  days  be 
fore,  there  was  no  lack  of  physical  strength  to  the  end,  when  he 
seemed  as  fresh  as  at  the  commencement.  His  exordium  on 
this  occasion  is  graceful  and  touching.  The  weather  being  un 
favorable  the  circumstance  was  converted  to  his  use  in  associa 
ting  it  with  his  topics.  He  said  : — 

"  The  day,  is  dark  and  gloomy,  unsettled  and  uncertain,  like  the  condi- 


284  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

tion  of  our  country  in  regard  to  the  unnatural  war  with  Mexico.  The  pu)» 
lie  mind  is  agitated  and  anxious,  and  is  filled  with  serious  apprehensions  as 
to  its  indefinite  continuance,  and  especially  as  to  the  consequences  which  its 
termination  may  bring  forth,  menacing  the  harmony,  if  not  the  existence, 
of  our  Union.  It  is  under  these  circumstances  I  present  myself  before  you. 
No  ordinary  occasion  would  have  drawn  me  from  the  retirement  in  which  I 
live;  but,  Vhile  a  single  pulsation  of  the  human  heart  remains,  it  should,  if 
necessary,  be  dedicated  to  the  service  of  one's  country.  And  I  have  hoped 
that,  although  I  am  a  private  and  humble  citizen,  an  expression  of  the  views 
and  opinions  I  entertain  might  form  some  little  addition  to  the  general 
stock  of  information,  and  afford  a  small  assistance  in  delivering  our  country 
from  the  perils  and  dangers  which  surround  it." 

There  is  a  graceful  melancholy  in  the  following  allusion  to 
the  approach  of  old  age  : — 

"  I  have  come  here  with  no  purpose  to  attempt  to  make  a  fine  speech,  or 
any  ambitious  oratorical  display.  I  have  brought  with  me  no  rhetorical 
bouquets  to  throw  into  this  assemblage.  In  the  circle  of  the  year  autumn 
has  come,  and  the  season  of  flowers  has  passed  away.  In  the  progress  of 
years,  my  spring-time  has  gone  by,  and  I  too  am  in  tbe  autumn  of  life,  and 
feel  the  frost  of  age.  My  desire  and  aim  are  to  address  you  earnestly,  calmly, 
seriously,  and  plainly,  upon  the  grave  and  momentous  subjects  which  have 
brought  us  together.  And  I  am  most  solicitous  that  not  a  solitary  word 
may  fall  from  me  offensive  to  any  party  or  person  in  the  who!*  extent  of 
the  Union." 

Mr.  Clay  then  took  a  review  of  those  scourge?  ?f  mankind,  of 
which  war  is  not  the  least : — 

"War,  pestilence,  famine,  by  the  common  consent  of  mankind,  are  the 
three  greatest  calamities  which  can  befall  our  species;  and  war,  as  the  most 

^  direful,  justly  stands  in  front.  Pestilence  and  famine,  no  doubt  for  wise 
although  inscrutable  purposes,  are  inflictions  of  Providence,  to  which  it  is 
our  duty,  therefore,  to  bow  with  obedience,  humble  submission,  and  resig 
nation.  Their  duration  is  not  long,  and  their  ravages  are  limited.  They 
bring,  indeed,  great  affliction  while  they  last,  but  society  soon  recovers  from 
their  effects.  War  is  the  voluntary  work  of  our  own  hands,  and  whatever 
reproaches  it  may  deserve  should  be  directed  to  ourselves.  When  it  breaks 
out,  its  duration  is  indefinite  and  unknown — its  vicissitudes  are  hidden 
from  our  view.  In  the  sacrifice  of  human  life,  and  in  the  waste  of  human 
treasure,  in  its  losses  and  its  burdens,  it  affects  both  belligerent  nations;  and 
its  sad  effects  of  mangled  bodies,  of  death,  and  of  desolation,  endure  long 

^jifter  its  thunders  are  hushed  in  peace.  War  unhinges  society,  disturbs  its 
peaceful  and  regular  industry,  and  scatters  poisonoiis  seeds  of  disease  and 
immorality,  which  continue  to  germinate  and  diffuse  their  baneful  influence 
long  after  it  has  ceased.  Dazzling  by  its  glitter,  pomp,  and  pageantry,  it; 
begets  a  spirit  of  wild  adventure  and  romantic  enterprise,  and  often  disqual 
ifies  those  who  embark  in  it,  after  their  return  from  the  bloody  fields  of 
battle,  from  engaging  in  the  industrious  and  peaceful  vocations  of  life. 

"We  are  informed  by  a  statement,  which  is  apparently  correct,  that  the 
number  of  our  countrymen  slain  in  this  lamentable  Mexican  war,  although 
it  has  yet  been  of  only  eighteen  months'  existence,  is  equal  to  one  half  of 
the  whole  of  the  American  loss  during  the  seven  years'  war  of  the  Kevolu- 


SPEECH    ON    THE    MEXICAN    WAR.  285 

tion  And  I  venture  to  assert  that  the  expenditure  of  treasure  which  it 
has  occasioned,  when  it  shall  come  to  be  fairly  ascertained  and  footed  up, 
will  be  found  to  be  more  than  half  of  the  pecuniary  cost  of  the  war  of  our 
independence.  And  this  is  the  condition  of  the  party  whose  arms  have 
been  everywhere  constantly  victorious  1" 

After  stating  those  views  in  regard  to  the  origin  and  causes 
of  the  war  with  which  the  reader  of  his  life  is  already  familiar, 
Mr.  Clay  came  to  the  consideration  of  the  question,  how  was  it 
to  be  brought  to  a  satisfactory  close  ?  Tne  mode  which  he  in 
dicated  was,  that  Congress,  inasmuch  as  it  had  the  right,  either 
at  the  beginning  or  during  the  prosecution  of  any  war,  to  decide 
the  objects  and  purposes  for  which  it  was  proclaimed,  or  for 
which  it  ought  to  be  continued,  should,  by  some  deliberate  and 
authentic  act,  declare  for  what  objects  the  existing  war  should 
be  prosecuted.  He  supposed  the  president  would  not  hesitate 
to  regulate  his  conduct  by  the  pronounced  will  of  Congress,  and 
to  employ  the  force  and  the  diplomatic  power  of  the  nation  to 
execute  that  will.  But,  if  the  president  should  decline  or  refuse 
to  do  so,  and,  in  contempt  of  the  supreme  authority  of  Congress, 
should  persevere  in  waging  the  war,  for  other  objects  than  those 
proclaimed  by  Congress,  then  it  would  be  the  imperative  duty 
of  that  body  to  vindicate  its  authority  by  the  most  stringent,  and 
effectual,  and  appropriate  measures.  And  if,  on  the  contrary, 
the  enemy  should  refuse  to  conclude  a  treaty,  containing  stipula 
tions  securing  the  objects  designated  by  Congress,  it  would  be 
come  the  duty  of  the  whole  government  to  prosecute  the  war 
with  all  the  national  energy,  until  those  objects  were  attained  by 
a  treaty  of  peace.  There  could  be  no  insuperable  difficulty  in 
Congress  making  such  an  authoritative  declaration.  Let  it  re 
solve,  simply,  that  the  war  should  or  should  not  be  a  war  of  con 
quest  ;  and,  if  a  war  of  conquest,  what  was  to  be  conquered. 

To  the  project  of  annexation  Mr.  Clay  expressed  his  decided 
hostility : — 

"Does  any  considerate  man,"  he  asked,  "believe  it  possible  that  two  sucK" 
immense  countries,  with  territories  of  nearly  equal  extent,  with  populations 
so  incongruous,  so  different  in  race,  in   language,  in  religion,  and  in  laws, 
could  be  blended  together  in  one  harmonious  mass,  and  happily  governed^- 
by  one  common  authority?     Murmurs,  discontent,  insurrections,  rebellion, 
would  inevitably  ensue,  until  the  incompatible  parts  would  be  broken  asun 
der,  and  possibly,  in  the  frightful'  struggle,  our  present  glorious  Union  itself 
would  be  dissevered  or  dissolved.     We  ought  not  to  forget  the  warning 


LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

voice  of  all  history,  which  teaches  the  difficulty  of  combining  and  coneolid 
ating  together,  conquering  and  the  conquered  nations.  After  the  lapse  of 
eight  hundred  years,  during  which  the  Moors  held  their  conquest  of  Spain, 
the  indomitable  courage,  perseverance  and  obstinacy  of  the  Spanish  race 
linally  triumphed,  and  expelled  the  African  invaders  from  the  peninsula. 
And,  even  within  our  own  time,  the  colossal  power  of  Napoleon,  when  at 
its  loftiest  height,  was  incompetent  to  subdue  and  subjugate  the  proud  Cas- 
tilian.  And  here,  in  our  own  neighborhood,  Lower  Canada,  which  near 
one  hundred  years  ago,  after  the  conclusion  of  the  seven  years'  war,  was 
ceded  by  France  to  Great  Britain,  remains  a  foreign  land  in  the  midst 
of  British  provinces,  foreign  in  feelings  and  attachment,  and  foreign  in 
laws,  language,  and  religion.  And  what  has  been  the  fact  with  poor,  gal 
lant,  generous,  and  oppressed  Ireland?  Centuries  have  passed  since  the 
overbearing  Saxon  overrun  and  subjugated  the  Emerald  Isle.  Rivers  of 
Irish  blood  have  flowed  during  the  long  and  arduous  contest.  Insurrection 
and  rebellion  have  been  the  order  of  the  day ;  and  yet,  up  to  this  time,  Ire 
land  remains  alien  in  feeling,  affection,  and  sympathy,  toward  the  power 
which  has  so  long  borne  her  down.  Every  Irishman  hates,  with  a  mortal 
hatred,  his  Saxon  oppressor.  Although  there  are  great  territorial  differ- 
•ences  between  the  condition  of  England  and  Ireland,  as  compared  to  that 
of  the  United  States,  and  Mexico,  there  are  some  points  of  striking  resem 
blance  between  them.  Both  the  Irish  and  the  Mexicans  are  probably  of 
the  same  Celtic  race.  Both  the  English  and  the  Americans  are  of  the  same 
Saxon  origin.  The  catholic  religion  predominates  in  both  the  former,  the 
protestant  among  both  the  latter.  Religion  has  been  the  fruitful  cause  of 
dissatisfaction  and  discontent  between  the  Irish  and  the  English  nations. — 
Is  there  no  reason  to  apprehend  that  it  would  become  so  between  the  peo 
ple  of  the  United  States  and  those  of  Mexico,  if  they  were  united  together? 
Why  should  we  seek  to  interfere  with  them  in  their  mode  of  worship  of  a 
common  Savior?  We  believe  that  they  are  wrong,  especially  in  the  ex 
clusive  character  of  their  faith,  and  that  we  are  right.  They  think  that 
they  are  right  and  we  wrong.  What  other  rule  can  there  be  than  to  leave 
the  followers  of  each  religion  to  their  own  solemn  convictions  of  conscien 
tious  duty  toward  God?  Who,  but  the  great  Arbiter  of  the  universe,  can 
judge  in  such  a  question  ?  For  my  own  part,  I  do  sincerely  believe  and 
hope,  that  those  who  belong  to  all  the  departments  of  the  great  church  of 
Christ,  if,  in  truth  and  purity,  they  conform  to  the  doctrines  which  they 
profess,  will  ultimately  secure  an  abode  in  those  regions  of  bliss,  which  all 
aim  finally  to  reach.  I  think  that  there  is  no  potentate  in  Europe,  what- 
3ver  his  religion  may  be,  more  enlightened  or  at  this  moment  so  interesting 
is  the  liberal  head  of  the  papal  see? 

"But  I  suppose  it  to  be  impossible  that  those  who  favor,  if  there  be  any 
•who  favor  the  annexation  of  Mexico  to  the  UnitedJStates,  can  think  that  it 
ought  to  be  perpetually  governed  by  military  sway.  Certainly  no  votary 
o.fhuman  liberty  could  deem  it  right  that  a  violation  should  be  perpetrated 
of  the  right  principles  of  our  own  revolution,  according  to  which,  laws 
ought  not  to  enacted  and  taxes  ought  not  to  be  levied,  without  representa 
tion  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  to  obey  the  one,  and  pay  the  other.  Then, 
Mexico  is  to  participate  in  our  councils  and  equally  share  in  our  legislation 
and  government.  But,  suppose  she  would  not  voluntarily  choose  represen 
tatives  to  the  national  Congress,  is  our  soldiery  to  follow  the  electors  to  the 
ballot-box,  and  by  force  to  compel  them,  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  to  de- 
posite  their  ballot?  And  how  are  the  nine  millions  of  Mexican  people  to 
be  represented  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  the 


HIS    VIEWS    ON    ANNEXATION.  287 

Congress  of  the  United  States  of  the  republic  of  Mexico  combined?  la 
every  Mexican  without  regard  to  color  or  taste,  per  capitum,  to  exercise  the 
elective  franchise  ?  How  is  the  quota  of  representation  between  the  two 
republics  to  be  fixed  ?  Where  is  the  seat  of  common  government  to  be 
established  ? — And  who  can  foresee  or  foretell,  if  Mexico,  voluntarily  or  by 
force,  were  to  share  in  the  common  government  what  could  be  the  conse 
quences  to  her  or  to  us?  Unprepared,  as  I  fear  her  population  yet  is,  for 
the  practical  enjoyment  of  self-government,  and  of  habits,  customs,  language, 
*vrs,  and  religion,  so  totally  different  from  our  own,  we  should  present  the 
revolting  spectacle  of  a  confused,  distracted,  and  motley  government.  We 
should  have  a  Mexican  party,  a  Pacific  ocean  party,  an  Atlantic  party,  in 
addition  to  the  other  parties,  which  exist,  or  with  which  we  are  threatened, 
each  striving  to  execute  its  own  particular  views  and  purposes,  and  reproach 
ing  the  others  with  thwarting  and  disappointing  them.  The  Mexican  rep 
resentation,  in  Congress,  would  probably  form  a  separate  and  impenetrable 
corps,  always  ready  to  throw  itself  into  the  scale  of  any  other  party,  to 
advance  and  promote  Mexican  interests.  Such  a  state  of  things  could  not^ 
long  endure.  Those  whom  God  and  geography  have  pronounced  should  live 
asunder,  could  never  be  permanently  and  harmoniously  united  together.  >— . 
"Do  we  want  for  our  own  happiness  or  greatness  the  addition  of  Mexico, 
to  the  existing  Union  of  our  states?  If  our  population  were  too  dense  for 
our  territory,  and  there  was  a  difficulty  in  obtaining  honorably  the  means 
of  subsistence,  there  might  be  some  excuse  for  an  attempt  to  enlarge  our 
dominions.  But  we  have  no  such  apology.  We  have  already,  in  our  glori 
ous  country,  avast  and  almost  boundless  territory.  Beginning  at  the  north^-> 
in  the  frozen  regions  of  the  British  provinces,  it  stretches  thousands  of  mileb 
along  the  coasts  of  the  Atlantic  ocean  and  the  Mexican  gulf,  until  it  almost 
reaches  the  tropics.  It  extends  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  borders  on  those  great 
inland  seas,  the  lakes,  which  separate  us  from  the  possessions  of  Great  Brit 
ain,  and  it  embraces  the  great  father  of  rivers,  from  its  uppermost  source  to 
ti.'i  Balize,  and  the  still  longer  Missouri,  from  its  mouth  to  the  gorges  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  It  comprehends  the  greatest  variety  of  the  richest  soils, 
capable  of  almost  all  the  productions  of  the  earth,  except  tea  and  coffee  and 
the  spices,  and  it  includes  every  variety  of  climate,  which  the  heart  could 
wish  or  desire.  We  have  more  than  ten  thousand  millions  of  acres  of  waste 
and  unsettled  lands,  enough  for  the  subsistence  of  ten  or  twenty  times  our 
present  population.  Ought  we  not  to  be  satisfied  with  such  a  country  ? — 
Ought  we  not  to  be  profoundly  thankful  to  the  Giver  of  all  good  things  for 
such  vast  and  bountiful  land?  Is  it  not  the  height  of  ingratitude  to  him  to 
seek,  by  war  and  conquest,  indulging  in  a  spirit  of  rapacity,  to  acquire  other 
lands,  the  homes  and  habitations  of  a  large  portion  of  his  common  children? 
If  we  pursue  the  object  of  such  a  conquest,  besides  mortgaging  the  revenue 
and  resources  of  this  country  for  ages  to  come,  in  the  form  of  an  onerous 
national  debt,  we  should  have  greatly  to  augment  that  debt,  by  an  assump 
tion  of  the  sixty  or  seventy  millions  of  the  national  debt  of  Mexico.  For  I 
take  it  that  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that,  if  we  obtain  voluntarily  or  by 
conquest  a  foreign  nation,  we  acquire  it  with  all  the  incumbrances  attached 
to  it.  In  my  humble  opinion,  we  are  now  bound,  in  honor  and  morality, 
to  pay  the  just  debt  of  Texas.  And  we  should  be  equally  bound,  by  the 
eame  obligations,  to  pay  the  debt  of  Mexico  if  it  were  annexed  to  the  United 
States." 

Upon  the   ^uestiou  of  the  extension  of  the  system  of  negro 
slavery  over  newly-acquired  territory,  Mr.  Qlay  spoke  with  that 


288  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

same  ingenuousness  which  characterized  his  views  on  the  slav 
ery  question,  when,  nearly  fifty  years  ago  in  Kentucky,  he  de 
clared  his  belief  that  the  proportion  of  slaves  in  comparison  with 
the  whites  was  so  inconsiderable,  that  a  system  of  gradual  eman 
cipation,  that  would  ultimately  eradicate  the  evil,  might  be  safely 
adopted.  That  sysiem  differed  from  the  plan  of  immediate  abo 
lition  for  which  the  abolition  party  of  the  present  day  contend. 
That  party  had  done  incalculable  mischief  even  to  the  very  cause 
which  they  espoused,  to  say  nothing  of  the  discord  which  they 
had  produced  between  different  parts  of  the  country.  Mr.  Clay 
then  alluded  to  the  efforts  of  the  American  Colonization  Society, 
of  which  he  had  been  one  of  the  principal  founders.  He  then 
continued  : — 

"It  may  be  argued  that,  in  admitting  the  injustice  of  slavery,  I  admit  the  . 
necessity  of  an  instantaneous  reparation  of  that  injustice.  Unfortunately, 
however,  it  is  not  always  safe,  practicable,  or  possible,  in  the  great  move 
ments  of  states  and  public  affairs  of  nations,  to  remedy  or  repair  the  inflic 
tion  of  previous  injustice.  In  the  inception  of  it,  we  may  oppose  and  de 
nounce  it,  by  our  most  strenuous  exertions,  but,  after  its  conbmnmation, 
there  is  often  no  other  alternative  left  us  but  to  deplore  its  perpetration, 
and  to  acquiesce,  as  the  only  alternative,  in  its  existence,  as  a  less  evil  than 
the  frightful  consequences  which  might  ensue  from  the  vain  endeavor  to^ 
repair  it.  Slavery  is  one  of  those  unfortunate  instances.  The  evil  of  it 
•was  inflicted  upon  us,  by  the  parent-country  of  Great  Britain,  against  all 
the  entreaties  and  remonstrances  of  the  colonies.  And  here  it  is  among  and 
amid  us,  and  we  must  dispose  of  it  as  best  we  ftan  under  all  the  circum^ 
stances  which  surround  us.  It  continued,  by  the  importation  of  slaves  from 
Africa,  in  spite  of  colonial  resistance,  for  a  period  of  more  than  a  century 
and  a  half,  and  it  may  require  an  equal  or  longer  lapse  of  time  before  our 
country  is  entirely  rid  of  the  evil.  And,  in  the  meantime,  moderation, 
prudence,  and  discretion,  among  ourselves,  and  the  blessings  of  Providence, 
may  be  all  necessary  to  accomplish  our  ultimate  deliverance  from  it.  Ex 
amples  of  similar  infliction  of  irreparable  national  evil  and  injustice  might 
be  multiplied  to  an  indefinite  extent.  The  case  of  the  annexation  of  Texas 
to  the  United  States  is  a  recent  and  an  obvious  one,  which,  if  it  were  wrong, 
can  not  now  be  repaired.  Texas  is  now  an  integral  part  of  our  Union,  with 
its  own  voluntary  consent.  Many  of  us  opposed  the  annexation  with  honest 
zeal  and  most  earnest  exertions.  But  who  would  now  think  of  perpetrating 
the  folly  of  casting  Texas  out  of  the  confederacy,  nml  throwing  her  back 
upon  her  own  independence,  or  into  the  arms  of  Mexico?  Who  would  now 
Beek  to  divorce  her  from  this  Union  ?  The  Creeks  and  the  Cherokee  Indiana 
were,  by  the  most  exceptionable  means,  driven  from  their  country,  and 
transported  beyond  the  Mississippi  river.  Their  lands  have  been  fairly  pur 
chased  and  occupied  by  inhabitants  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and 
Tennessee.  Who  would  now  conceive  the  flagrant  injustice  of  expelling 
those  inhabitants  and  restoring  the  Indian  country  to  the  Cherokees  and 
Creeks,  under  color  of  repairing  the  original  injustice?  During  the  war  of 
our  Revolution,  millions  of  paper  money  were  issued  by  our  ancestors,  as 


HIS    RESOLUTIONS    ON    THE    MEXICAN    WAR.  289 

the  only  currency  with  which  they  could  achieve  our  liberties  and  inde 
pendence.  Thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  families  were  stripped 
of  their  homes  and  their  all,  and  brought  to  ruin,  by  giving  credit  and  con 
fidence  to  that  spurious  currency.  Stern  necessity  has  prevented  the  repa 
ration  of  that  great  national  injustice." 

The  sentiments  and  the  policy  recommended  by  Mr.  Clay  ir 
tins  practical  and  eloquent  speech  were  embodied  in  the  follow 
ing  resolutions,  which  he  read  and  submitted  to  the  judgment  of 
the  meeting : — 

"  1.  Resolved,  as  the  opinion  of  this  meeting,  that  the  primary  cause  of 
the  present  unhappy  war,  existing  between  the  United  States  of  America 
and  the  United  States  of  the  republic  of  Mexico,  was  the  annexation  of 
Texas  to  the  former:  and  that  the  immediate  occasion  of  hostilities  between 
the  two  republics  arose  out  of  the  order  of  the  president  of  the  United 
States  for  the  removal  of  the  army  under  the  command  of  General  Taylor, 
from  its  position  at  Corpus  Christi,  to  a  point  opposite  Matamoras,  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  Rio  Bravo,  within  territory  olaimed  by  both  republics,  but 
vhen  under  the  jurisdiction  of  that  of  Mexicn,  and  inhabited  by  its  citizens ; 
and  that  the  order  of  the  president  for  the  removal  of  the  army  to  that 
point  was  improvident  and  unconstitutional,  it  being  without  the  concur 
rence  of  Congress,  or  even  any  consultation  with  it,  although  it  was  in  ses 
sion:  but  that  Congress  having,  by  subsequent  acts,  recognised  the  war  thus 
brought  into  existence,  without  its  previous  authority  or  consent,  the  prose 
cution  of  it  became  thereby  national. 

"  2.  Resolved,  That  in  the  absence  of  any  formal  and  public  declaration  by 
Congress  of  the  objects  for  which  the  war  ought  to  be  prosecuted,  the  president 
of  the  United  States,  as  chief  magistrate,  and  as  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  is  left  to  the  guidance  of  his  own  judg 
ment  to  prosecute  it  for  such  purposes  and  objects  as  he  may  deem  the  honor 
and  interest  of  the  nation  to  require. 

"  3.  Resolved,  That  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  Congress,  be 
ing  invested  with  power  to  declare  war,  and  grant  letters  of  marque  and 
reprisal,  to  make  rules  concerning  captures  on  land  and  water,  to  raise  and 
support  armies,  to  provide  and  maintain  a  navy,  and  to  make  rules  for  the 
government  of  the  land  and  naval  forces,  has  the  full  and  complete  war- 
making  power  of  the  United  States ;  and,  so  possessing  it,  has  a  right  to 
determine  upon  the  motives,  causes,  and  objects,  of  any  war,  when  it  com 
mences,  or  at  any  time  during  the  progress  of  its  existence. 

"  4.  Resolved,  as  the  further  opinion  of  this  meeting,  that  it  is  the  right, 
and  duty  of  Congress  to  declare  by  some  authentic  act,  for'what  purposes 
and  objects  the  existing  war  ought  to  be  further  prosecuted ;  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  president  in  his  official  conduct  to  conform  to  such  a  declaration 
of  Congress ;  and  that  if,  after  such  declaration,  the  president  should  decline 
or  refuse  to  endeavor,  by  all  the  means,  civil,  diplomatic,  and  military,  in 
his  power,  to  execute  the  announced  will  of  Congress,  and,  in  defiance  of  its 
authority,  should  continue  to  prose_c_ute,  the  war  for  purposes  and  objects 
other  than  those  declared  by  that  body,  it  would  become  the  right  and  duty 
of  Congress  to  adoptthe  most  efficacious,  measures  to  arrest  the  further 
progress  of  the  war,  taking  care  to  make  ample  provision  for  the  honor,  the 
safety  and  security  of  our  armies  in  Mexico,  in  every  contingency.  And, 
if  Mexico  should  decline  or  refuse  to  conclude  a  treaty  with  us,  stipulating 
M  19 


290  LIFB    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

for  the  purposes  0"»d  objects  so  declared  by  Congress,  it  would  be  ijie  duty 
of  the  government  to  prosecute  the  war,  with  the  utmost  vigor,  until  they 
were  attained  07  a  treaty  of  peace. 

"5.  Resolved,  'That  we  view  with  serious  alarm,  and  are  utterly  opposed 
to  any  purpose  of  annexing  Mexico  to  the  United  States,  in  any  mode,  and 
especially  by  conquest;  that  we  believe  the  two  nations  could  not  be  hap 
pily  governed  by  one  common  authority,  owing  to  their  great  difference  of 
race  Jaw,  language,  and  religion,  and  the  vast  extent  of  their  respective 
territories,  and  large  amount  of  their  respective  populations:  that  such  a 
union,  against  the  consent  of  the  exasperated  Mexican  people,  could  only 
be  effected  and  preserved  by  large  standing  armies,  and  the  constant -.appli 
cation  of  military  force ;  in  other  words,  by  despotic  sway,  exercised  over 
the  Mexican  people  in  the  first  instance,  but  which  there  would  be  just*  cause 
to  apprehend,  might  in  process  of  time  be  extended  over  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  That  we  deprecate,  therefore,  such  a  union,  as  wholly  in 
compatible  with  the  genius  of  our  government,  and  with  the  character  of 
free  and  liberal  institutions;  and  we  anxiously  hope  Ihat  each  nation  may 
be  left  in  the  undisturbed  possession  of  its  own  laws,  language,  cherished 
religion,  and  territory,  to  pursue  its  own  happiness  according  to  what  it 
may  deem  best  for  itself. 

"6.  Resolved,  That  considering  the  series  of  splendid  and  brilliant  victories 
achieved  by  our  brave  armies  and  their  gallant  commanders,  during  the 
war  with  Mexico,  unattended  by  a  single  reverse,  the  United  States  without 
any  danger  of  their  honor  suffering  the  slightest  tarnish,  can  practise  the 
yirtues  of  moderation  and  magnanimity  toward  their  discomfited  foe.  "We 
have  no  desire  for  the  dismemberment  by  the  United  States  of  the  republic 
of  Mexico,  but  wish  only  a  just  and  proper  fixation  of  the  limits  of  Texas. 
^•"7.  Resolved,  That  we  do  positively  and  emphatically  disclaim  and  dia* 
avow  any  wish  or  desire  on  our  part,  to  acquire  any  foreign  territory  what 
ever,  for  the  purpose  of  propagating  slavery,  or  of  introducing  slaves  from 
the  United  States,  into  such  foreign  territory. 

"  8.  Resolved,  That  we  invite  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  United  States,  who 
are  anxious  for  the  restoration  of  the  blessings  of  peace,  or,  if  the  existing 
war  shall  continue  to  be  prosecuted,  are  desirous  that  its  purposes  and  ob 
jects  shall  be  defined  and  known,  who  are  anxious  to  avert  present  and 
future  perils  and  dangers,  with  which  it  may  be  fraught,  and  who  are  also 
anxious  to  produce  contentment  and  satisfaction  at  home,  and  to  elevate 
the  national  character  abroad,  to  assemble  together  in  their  respective  com 
munities  and  to  express  their  views,  feelings,  and  opinions." 

The  speech  was  often  interrupted  by  bursts  of  applause  ;  and 
both  at  its  commencement  and  its  close  Mr,  Clay  was  heartily- 
cheered.  The  promulgation  of  its  sentiments  were  attended 
with  the  happiest  effects,  not  only  at  home  in  shaping  public 
opinion,  but  in  Mexico  in  influencing  her  public  men  in  the 
adoption  of  temperate  and  pacific  counsels.  "  It  is  hardly  pos 
sible,"  wrote  one  of  the  journalists  of  the  day,  "  to  over-estimate 
the  importance  of  this  step." 

From  the  intelligent  and  the  right-thinking  throughout  the 
country  a  response  arose  in  favor  of  the  sentiments  thus  boldly 


nESPONSE    TO   LEXINGTON    RESOLUTIONS.  291 

announced.  The  necessity  for  such  a  "  voice  potential"  at  the 
critical  time  is  well  told  in  the  language  of  the  address  of  the 
immense  meeting  which  convened  at  the  Tabernacle  in  New- 
York,  the  20th  of  December,  1847,  to  respond  to  the  Lexington 
resolutions : — 

"The  spirit  now  dominant  in  the  national  councils,  and  rampant  through 
out  the  land,  not  only  mocks  at  gray  hairs  and  tramples  on  the  lessons  of 
experience,  but  regards  with  impatience  and  ill-disguised  contempt  every 
appeal  to  considerations  of  morality,  philanthropy,  or  religion,  in  regard  to 
the  prosecution  or  termination  of  the  war.  The  fierce  bay  of  the  blood 
hound  on  the  warm  track  of  his  prey  drowns  the  calm  voice  of  reason  and 
the  soft  pleadings  of  humanity.  Who  that  realizes  the  moral  accountability 
of  nations  can  doubt  that  we  have  fallen  upon  evil  days? 

"  In  this  crisis  a  voice  from  the  west  reaches  the  ear  and  fixes  the  regard 
of  the  American  people.  A  venerable  patriot,  illustrious  by  forty  years  of 
eminent  service  in  the  national  councils,  emerges  from  his  honored  seclusion 
to  address  words  of  wise  admonition  to  his  fellow-citizens.  That  voice, 
which  never  counselled  aught  to  dishonor  or  injure  this  Union,  is  lifted  up, 
probably  for  the  last  time,  in  exposure  of  the  specious  pretexts  on  which 
this  war  was  commenced,  in  reprehension  of  its  character  and  objects,  and 
in  remonstrance  against  its  further  prosecution.  At  the  sound  of  that  im 
pressive  voice,  the  scales  of  delusion  fall  from  thousands  of  flashing  eyes,  the 
false  glitter  of  the  conqueror's  glory  vanishes,  revealing  the  hideous  linea 
ments  of  carnage;  and  the  stern  question  which  stung  the  first  murderer  is 
broxight  home  essentially  to  every  breast  which  enfolds  a  conscience:  '  Where 
is  thy  brother?' — To  what  end  do  we  despoil  and  slay  our  fellow-men  guilty 
of  being  born  two  thousand  miles  southwest  of  us?  By  what  divine  law 
are  we  authorized  thus  to  deface  and  destroy  the  image  of  God? 

"The  great  statesman  of  the  west  was  too  well  acquainted  with  human 
nature,  and  had  too  much  experience  of  its  worst  developments,  to  hope 
that  such  an  appeal  as  he  has  made  to  the  nation's  moral  sense  would  not 
be  resented  and  resisted.  He  knew  that  exposed  depravity  would  pour 
out  its  vials  of  wrath  on  his  devoted  head ;  that  fell  rapacity  would  neglect 
for  a  moment  its  prey  to  tear  him  with  its  fangs ;  and  that  malice  would 
stimulate  calumny  to  hunt  and  defame  him  through  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land.  Calmly  he  bared  his  breast  to  the  storm ;  unflinchingly  he 
contemplates  its  fiercest  rage,  its  most  dismal  bowlings.  Shielded  in  the 
panoply  of  an  approving  conscience  and  of  the  commendation  of  the  wise 
and  good  throughout  the  world,  he  proffers  no  resistance,  requires  no  sym 
pathy,  solicits  no  aid.  For  himself  he  desires  nothing;  for  his  imperilled 
country  he  demands  the  services  and  the  sacrifices  of  all  her  upright  and 
patriotic  sons. 

"And  his  appeal  has  not  been  fruitless.  On  every  side  the  people,  arous 
ed  as  by  a  trumpet-blast,  are  awaking  to  a  consciousness  of  their  duty.  N"o 
longer  sunk  in  apathy  because  they  can  perceive  no  mode  in  which  exertion 
can  avail,  they  realize  at  last  that  every  honorable  means  should  be  em 
ployed  to  arrest  the  work  of  carnage ;  and  they  feel  that,  in  view  of  the 
brilliant  achievements  of  our  armies,  and. the  utter  prostration  of  their  foes, 
the  honor  of  our  country  can  best  be  preserved  and  exalted  by  the  exercise 
of  magnanimity  toward  the  vanquished,  f  The  means  of  terminating  the 
war  have  been  clearly  pointed  out  by  him  who  is  emphatically  first  in  the 
affections  and  in  the  confidence  of  the  American  people,  HENRY  CLAY  ;  and 


292  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

it  needs  but  that  their  representatives  shall  be  faithful  as  he  has  been  fear 
less  to  insure  a  speedy  restoration  of  peace." 

The  language  subsequently  adopted  at  the  meeting  at  Castle- 
Garden —  the  krgest  meeting  ever  gathered  in  this  country 
under  one  roof — -was: — 

"  Resolved,  That  we  regard  the  late  speech  of  Mr.  Clay  at  Lexington,  in 
exposure  of  the  causes,  character,  and  objects,  of  the  present  war  on  Mexico, 
as  among  the  noblest  and  most  patriotic  efforts  of  the  great  and  true  man, 
who  '  would  rather  be  right  than  be  president' " 


XXVIII. 

COLONIZATION DEATH    OF    JOHN    QUINCY    ADAMS. 

EARLY  in  the  congressional  session  of  1847— '48,  Mr.  Clay 
was  carried  by  professional  business  to  Washington.  His  re 
ception  there  was  brilliant  and  hearty  beyond  measure.  He 
had  declined  all  public  testimonials,  but  he  could  not  evade  the 
greetings  which  the  people  rose  as  one  man  to  extend.  "  Mr. 
Clay's  personal  popularity  suffers  no  abatement,"  writes  one. 
"  He  can  not  move  without  having  a  throng  at  his  heels.  He 
lives  in  an  atmosphere  of  hurrahs."  The  character  of  his  jour 
ney  to  the  seat  of  government  may  be  told  in  his  own  language 
at  the  meeting  of  the  American  colonization  society  in  January, 
1848,  in  the  hall  of  the  house  of  representatives  : — 

"I  have  just  terminated,  a  journey  of  considerable  length  and  arduous- 
ness,  performed  in  mid-winter,  and  surrounded  at  every  place  where  I  have 
stopped  by  throngs  of  friends,  leaving  absolutely  no  leisure  whatever  for 
that  preparation  which  ought  always  to  be  made  before  a  man  presents 
himself  to  address  so  respectable  and  intelligent  an  audience  as  this.  I  come 
before  you  without  a  solitary  note,  and  with  very  little  mental  preparation 
of  any  sort,  absolutely  with  no  preparedness  for  an  elaborate  address." 

We  have  already  alluded  to  Mr.  Clay's  efforts  in  tne  cause  of 
the  Colonization  society.  The  report  that  he  was  to  speak  at 
their  annual  meeting  called  forth  one  of  the  largest  assemblages 
ever  convened  in  the  capitol.  Every  nook  and  corner  in  the 
hall  of  the  house  was  crowded,  and  hundreds  of  anxious  atten 
dants  were  disappointed  in  obtaiuing  admission.  Mr.  Clay 


ADDRESS    BEFORE    THE    COLONIZATION    SOCIETY.  293 

showed  no  abatement  of  intellectual  vigor  or  patriotic  ardor. 
Experience  had  fully  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of  those  views 
to  which  he  had  given  utterance  almost  half  a  century  before. 
Time  had  shown  that  his  colonization  scheme,  like  his  protective 
policy,  was  founded  in  justice  and  benevolence,  and  bore  in  itself 
the  germ  of  future  blessings.  It  had  been  opposed  by  the  apa 
hy  of  southern  advocates  of  slavery,  and  by  the  perverse  hostility 
of  northern  professors  of  philanthropy ;  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Clay, 
"  it  had  been  surrounded  by  difficulties,  and  beset  by  enemies  in 
front  and  in  rear,  and  on  both  flanks.  The  abolitionists  have 
assailed  it,  as  well  as  those  of  the  opposite  extreme."  But  in 
spite  of  all  obstacles,  it  has  grown,  as  truth  must  ever  grow, 
though  slowly,  yet  surely. 

Mr.  Clay  alluded  to  the  fact  that  about  thirty  years  ago,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Finney  of  New  Jersey,  and  others  with  him,  met  in 
that  hall,  and  consulted  and  agreed  upon  the  great  principles  of 
the  foundation  of  the  society.  Of  that  number  Mr.  Clay  was 
one.  At  first  they  did  not  intend  to  do  more  than  to  establish  a 
colony  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  to  which  the  free  people  of  color 
in  the  United  States  might  voluntarily  and  with  their  own  free 
consent  without  the  least  restraint,  coercion,  or  compulsion,  pro 
ceed  and  enjoy  untrammelled  those  social  and  political  privileges 
which  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case  they  could  not  enjoy 
here.  The  founder  saw,  what  is  now  manifest  to  the  country, 
that  the  people  of  color  and  the  white  race  could  not  possibly 
live  together  on  terms  of  equality.  They  did  not  stop  to  inquire 
whether  this  state  of  things  was  right  or  wrong.  They  took  the 
fact  of  impossibility  for  these  two  races  to  live  together  in  equal 
social  conditions,  and  proceeded  to  operate  upon  that  fact,  without 
regard  to  the  question  whether  the  fact  arose  from  an  unworthy 
prejudice,  that  should  be  expelled  from  our  breasts,  or  whether 
it  was  an  instinct  for  our  guidance.  The  simple  object  was  to 
demonstrate  before  the  world  the  practicability  of  establishing  a 
colony  of  free  blacks  in  Africa. 

Utopian  and  impracticable  as  the  colonizationists  believed  the 
purpose  of  the  abolition  movement  to  be — to  emancipate  without 
a  moment's  delay  the  whole  of  the  black  race  in  the  United  States 
— they  did  not  interfere  with  it  in  any  way.  Their  object  was 


294  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

to  demonstrate  the  practicability  of  colonization.  That  demon" 
st ration  has  been  made. 

But  it  has  been  urged  that  this  is  the  country  of  the  black  man 
and  therefore  he  should  not  be  sent  to  Africa,  which  is  not  his 
country.  In  some  sense,  those  blacks  who  have  been  born  upon 
the  soil  may  claim  this  for  their  country  ;  and  so  could  the  Israel 
ites  claim  Egypt  for  their  country,  because  during  a  long  period 
of  time  they  were  captives  in  Egypt.  So  could  all  the  Israelites 
born  in  the  wilderness  during  their  progress  from  Egypt  to  the 
promised  land,  claim  the  wilderness  for  their  country ;  but  still, 
in  contemplating  the  beam  which  guided  the  progress  of  that 
most  remarkable  of  all  the  families  of  man,  neither  Egypt  nor 
the  wilderness,  but  Canaan,  was  their  home,  and  to  that  home 
they  were  finally  led.  Who,  then,  can  doubt,  in  a  solitary  in 
stance,  that  Africa  is  the  real  home  of  the  blacks,  though  they 
may  have  had  a  casual  birth  upon  this  continent  ?  And  who  can 
fail  to  see  that  native  missionaries  will  be  the  most  effective  for 
the  conversion  of  their  African  brethren,  who  are  of  the  same 
body  with  themselves,  and  with  whom  they  can  completely  har 
monize  in  all  their  interests,  sympathies,  and  affections  ?  At 
this  moment  there  have  been  four  or  five  thousand  colonists  sent 
to  Africa,  and  we  have  heard  that  there  are  in  the  republic  of 
Liberia  twenty-five  places  of  public  worship  dedicated  to  the 
same  Lord  and  Savior  whom  we  worship,  and  that  thousands  of 
the  natives  are  rushing  into  the  colonies  in  order  to  obtain  the 
benefits  of  Christian  education  and  a  knowledge  of  the  arts. 

With  regard  to  the  argument  that  it  is  impossible  to  transport 
to  Africa  all  the  free  people  of  color  in  the  United  States,  Mr. 
Clay  remarked : — 

"Why,  gentlemen,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  there  comes  yearly  into  the 
single  port  of  New  York  an  emigration  amounting  almost  to  the  annual 
increase  of  the  population  in  that  city,  and  perhaps  exceeding  the  annual 
increase  of  all  the  free  people  of  color  in  the  United  States.  And  this  is 
done  voluntarily,  upon  the  great  motives  of  all  human  action.  Thus,  the 
German  and  Irish  immigrants  flock  to  our  shores  annually,  with  no  con 
siderable  aid  on  the  part  of  their  governments  and  with  no  individual  aid, 
in  numbers  equal,  perhaps,  to  the  annual  increase  of  all  the  Africans  in  the 
United  States,  bond  and  free.  These  all  come  to  our  country  in  obedience 
to  one  of  the  laws  of  our  nature — in  pursuance  of  the  great  controlling 
principle  of  human  action,  and  which  enters  into  all  great  enterprises:  they 
come  here  to  better  their  condition ;  and  I  hope  they  will  better  their  con 


ADDRESS    BEFORE    THE    COLONIZATOIN    SOCIETY.  295 

dition.  And  so  it  would  be  with  all  our  free  people  of  color.  "Were  they 
to  be  transported  from  the  United  States  to  Africa,  would  not  their  condition 
be  physically,  morally,  socially,  and  politically,  better  and  happier  than  any 
thing  which  they  could  att  ain  to  or  hope  for  here  ?  It  is  vain  to  attempt  to 
eradicate  the  feeling  which  keeps  a  sunder  these  two  classes.  It  is  vain  foe 
the  office  of  philosophy  or  humanity  to  attempt  what  is  so  utterly  impracti 
cable  as  joining  together  those  whom  God  himself,  by  the  difference  of 
color  and  various  other  distinctions,  perhaps,  has  declared  ought  to  be 
separate.  [Cheers.]  Then,  to  send  them  to  Africa — not  by  violence,  not  by 
coercion,  not  against  their  will,  but  with  their  own  full  consent — let  me  say 
to  abolitionists  and  to  those  on  the  other  extreme — to  all  men — why  should 
not  the  free  colored  race  residing  among  us  have  the  option  to  go  to 
Africa  or  remain  in  the  United  States  ?" 

Mr.  Clay  compared  the  growth  of  the  colony  of  Liberia  with 
that  of  Jamestown  and  Plymouth.  The  ravages  of  disease  had 
been  much  less  in  the  instance  of  the  former.  Its  growth,  too, 
had  been  encouraging  in  comparison.  It  should  be  in  this  case 
as  in  all  other  settlements  in  new  countries.  There  should  be 
forerunners — pioneers  —  who  will  prepare  the  way,  raise  sub 
sistence,  build  houses,  make  places  of  comfort  and  convenience 
for  those  who  are  to  follow  them  ;  otherwise  they  may  be  thrown 
upon  the  shores  of  the  continent  of  Africa  to  suffer.  Better  to 
proceed  according  to  the  laws  of  Nature  herself — slowly,  surely, 
and  so  carefully  measuring  every  step  that  we  take. 

Mr.  Clay  related  a  case  illustrative  of  the  increased  rigor  of 
the  laws  against  the  black  population  in  some  states  of  the  south, 
so  that  emancipation  is  prohibited. 

"  In  the  state  of  Alabama,  a  respectable  and  kind  gentleman,  whom  I 
never  saw  in  my  life,  devised  to  me  in  his  will  some  twenty-five  or  thirty 
slaves,  without  any  intimation  as  to  the  cause  or  motive  of  the  bequest.  I 
was  surprised  at  this,  but  had  some  reason  to  believe,  in  consequence  of  my 
connection  with  this  society,  that  the  generous  devisor  had  confidence  in  me, 
and  that  I  would  send  them  to  Liberia.  Accordingly  I  took  measures  to 
accomplish  the  object  of  their  colonization,  and  have  been  happy  to  learn 
since  I  came  to  this  city  that  twenty-three  of  them  have  actually  embarked 
at  the  port  of  New  Orleans  for  that  colony,  and  the  remainder  will  follow 
as  soon  as  they  are  ready.  Now,  what  would  have  been  the  condition  of 
these  poor  creatures  but  for  the  existence  of  the  colonization  society  ?  They 
could  not  have  been  freed  in  Alabama,  for  the  laws  of  that  state  prohibit 
emancipation — in  consequence,  no  doubt,  of  the  imprudent  agitation  of  this 
eubject  at  the  north.  I  had  to  take  them  to  New  Orleans  as  my  slaves,  and 
they  were  regarded  as  my  slaves  until  they  got  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States." 

Here,  then,  appears  the  object  of  the  Colonization  society — 
that  of  affording  individuals,  as  well  as  states,  who  may  have  the 
control  of  free  people  rf  color  and  slaves  which  they  may  wish 


296  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

to  emancipate,  the  opportunity  of  gratifying  their  wishes,  by  of 
fering  them  a  transportation  to  the  shores  of  Africa.  The  abo 
litionists,  by  their  opposition  to  colonization,  have  but  riveted 
more  firmly  the  chains  of  slavery. 

"I  would  now  implore  all  parties,"  Said  Mr.  Clay  in  conclusion,  "I  would 
beseech  the  abolitionists,  and  I  would  beseech  all  those  who  hold  the  doc* 
trines  of  the  opposite  extreme,  insisting  upon  the  institution  of  slavery — I 
would  beseech  all  men  to  look  calmly  and  dispassionately  at  this  great 
project  which  commends  itself  to  their  friendly  consideration — I  would 
beseech  them  to  discard  their  prejudices,  and  ask  them  in  the  name  of  that 
God,  under  whose  smiling  providence  I  verily  believe  this  society  has  thus 
far  been  conducted,  and  will  in  future  continue,  to  look  and  contemplate  for 
a  moment  this  experiment  of  twenty-five  years'  continuance,  which,  without 
power,  without  revenue,  without  any  aid  except  what  has  been  furnished 
by  the  charity  of  men,  has  carried  on  a  war — not  an  aggressive,  but  a 
defensive  war — and  transported  to  Africa  between  five  and  six  thousand 
emigrants  from  the  United  States.  I  would  ask  you  to  look  at  the  territory 
which  we  have  acquired  ;  three  hundred  and  twenty  miles  of  coast  on  the 
west  of  Africa,  and  in  every  port  of  which  the  slave-trade  has  been  sup 
pressed!" 

Then  there  were  the  great  objects  of  civilization — the  benefits 
of  the  arts  to  be  extended  to  the  native  Africans — the  propaga 
tion  of  Christianity.  "  On,  then,  gentlemen — go  on,"  said  Mr. 
Clay,  "  in  the  name  of  the  cause.  I  shall  soon  leave  you  and 
this  theatre  of  action  for  ever ;  but  I  trust  that  the  spirit  which 
led  to  the  formation  of  this  society  will  survive  me,  and  that,  in 
other  hands  and  under  other  auspices,  this  colonization  society 
of  ours  may  be  still  found  asserting  its  sufficiency,  in  co-operation 
with  the  republic  of  Liberia,  to  transport  to  that  region  every  free 
person  of  color  who  may  be  disposed  to  go  there,  until,  I  trust, 
the  separation  of  the  two  races  shall  be  at  last  completed,  and 
other  generations  shall  have  sprung  up  to  invoke  —  as  in  closing 
I  now  do  —  upon  the  noble  cause  of  colonization  the  blessings  of 
that  God  whose  smile,  I  think,  has  been  hitherto  extended  to  it." 

Mr.  Clay  sat  down  amid  peals  of  applause  and  the  hearty  ap 
probation  of  his  audience,  if  we  may  except  a  few  ultraists  of 
both  sides.  Indeed,  as  Mr.  Clay  always  takes  the  rational,  the 
practicable,  the  just,  and  the  conservative  view  of  affairs,  ultra- 
ism  of  all  kinds  is  generally  found  ranged  among  his  opponents. 

The  speech  before  the  colonization  society  was  followed,  on 
the  llth  of  February,  1848,  by  his  appearance  ir  the  Supreme 
court  room  as  one  of  the  counsel  in  the  case  of  William  Houston 


SPEECH    IN    THE    SUPREME    COURT.  297 

and  others  versus  the  city  bank  of  New  Orleans.  "  At  an  early 
hour,"  says  a  correspondent,  "  the  avenues  leading  to  the  capitol 
were  thronged  with  crovds  of  the  aged  and  young,  the  beautiful 
and  gay,  all  anxious  to  hear  —  perhaps  for  the  last  time  —  the 
voice  of  the  sage  of  Ashland.  On  no  former  occasion  was  the 
uupreme  court  so  densely  packed — every  inch  of  space  was  oc 
cupied,  even  to  the  lobbies  leading  to  the  senate.  Mr.  Clay  rose 
a  few  minutes  after  eleven  o'clock,  the  hour  at  which  the  court 
is  organized.  It  has  been  often  said,  and  truly,  that  he  never 
was  and  never  could  be  reported  successfully.  His  magic  man 
ner,  the  captivating  tones  of  his  voice,  and  a  natural  grace,  sin 
gular  in  its  influence  and  peculiarly  his  own,  can  never  be  trans 
ferred  to  paper.  To  realize  their  charms,  he  must  be  seen  and 
heard.  His  exordium  was  in  every  way  becoming  and  appropri 
ate.  He  referred  with  feeling  to  the  first  time  on  which  he  ap 
peared  before  that  tribunal  —  not  one  of  those  who  then  occupied 
seats  on  the  bench  remained.  But  it  was  a  grateful  reflection, 
that  amid  all  the  political  shocks  to  which  the  country  had  been 
subjected,  the  supreme  court  had  maintained  its  elevated  name, 
its  dignity,  and  its  purity,  untouched  and  unsuspected.  He  then 
proceeded  to  the  argument  of  the  cause.  By  the  common  con 
sent  of  the  court  and  the  immense  and  enlightened  audience, 
comprising  some  of  the  foremost  minds  of  the  nation,  Mr.  Clay 
exhibited  as  much  vigor  of  intellect,  clearness  of  elucidation, 
power  of  logic,  and  legal  analysis  and  research,  as  he  ever  did 
in  his  palmiest  days.  Much  was  expected  from  him,  but  he  more 
than  realized  every  expectation.  It  was  no  display  of  oratorical 
powers,  but  a  sound  and  strict  argument,  adapted  to  the  cause 
and  to  the  court." 

"  In  his  exordium,"  says  another  of  his  hearers,  "  we  discern 
a  subjective  beauty,  and  a  fitness  to  the  peculiarity  of  the  occa 
sion,  which  rendered  it  eminently  impressive.  Involving,  as  it 
did.  affecting  recollections  of  the  past,  as  contrasted  with  the 
present,  it  had  in  it  a  quality  of  tenderness,  rendered  more  intense 
by  the  mellow  tones  of  that  wonderful  and  variable  voice  which 
Mr.  Clay  possesses,  and  which,  however  firm  for  a  septuagena 
rian,  is  beginning  to  bo  touched  with  the  tremulousness  of  age. 
The  fact  to  which  he  alluded  was,  that  he  was  now  before  an 
M* 


I 


298  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

entire  new  bench  of  judges,  as   compared  with  that  in  whose 
presence  he  years  ago  made  his  first  legal  argument.     A  striking 
fact .  reminding  the  aged  and  venerable  advocate  of  his  own  de 
cline,  and  the  judges  of  their  hastening  destiny." 

Changing  the  tone  of  'ns  remarks,  Mr.  Clay  replied  to  the 
gentleman,  the  Hon.  Johii  Sergeant,  of  Philadelphia,  who  had 
complained  of  the  speed  which  had  characterized  the  proceed 
ings  of  counsel  for  the  plaintiffs.  Mr.  Clay  advocated  the  im 
portance  of  making  honorable  haste  in  all  legal  matters,  and,  in 
this  connection,  described  the  following  scene  :  — 

"  I  happened,  some  years  ago,  in  the  performance  of  a  public  service,  to 
be  abroad  in  England,  and  I  occasionally  attended  both  houses  of  Parlia 
ment,  and  the  courts  in  Westminster  hall.  Sir,  if  in  contemplating  those 
great  assemblies,  and  those  learned  tribunals,  I  had  anything  to  regret,  upon 
a  comparison  between  them  and  our  own,  of  what  I  have  witnessed  when, 
in  that  country,  it  was  not  that  there  was  less  eloquence  or  less  ability 
either  displayed  in  parliament,  when  great  and  momentous  subjects  were 
brought  befoce  that  body,  but  that  there  was  a  greater  economy  of  time.  The 
speakers  there  would  begin  with  their  subject,  and  would  end  when  the 
subject  was  exhausted.  But,  sir,  when  I  went  into  either  apartment  of 
Westminster  hall,  where  I  attended,  as  I  did  once  or  twice,  the  court  sitting 
in  bank,  I  was  there  impressed  still  more  with  the  economy  of  the  despatch 
of  business. 

"  I  entered  the  court-room,  I  remember,  very  early  one  morning.  Their 
lordships,  the  judges,  were  clothed  with  gowns  like  your  honors,  but  that 
was  the  only  analogy  between  your  honors  and  them,  for  they  wore,  also, 
their  flowing  wigs,  falling  upon  their  shoulders.  While  there,  there  were 
no  sparkling  eyes,  no  bewitching  smiles,  no  female  forms ;  the  whole  room-— 
and  I  think,  may  it  please  your  honors,  it  was  not  larger  than  the  half  of 
this — contained  only  the  judges  and  officers  of  the  court;  and  a  host  of 
gentlemen  of  the  legal  profession.  Upon  the  first  seats  the  elder  members 
of  the  bar,  the  sergeants-at-law ;  and  upon  the  seats  behind,  the  other 
members  of  the  bar,  all  clothed  in  black  gowns.  Well,  after  the  tipstaff  had 
pronounced  the  introductory 'God  save  the  king,' his  lordship  asked  the 
oldest  sergeant,  'Have  yon  any  motion  to  make?' — 'Yes,  please  your  lord 
ship  ;  I  have  a  case  in  which  I  wish  to  establish  this  point,'  naming  the 
point.  'Why,'  said  his  lordship,  'you  can  not  maintain  that.' — 'But,"  said 
the  sergeant,  "I  only  wish  to  quote  a  few  authorities.' — 'It  is  of  no  use,' 
said  his  lordship,  turning  to  his  notes,  '  the  proposition  can  not  be  main 
tained;'  and  the  same  observation  was  echoed  along  the  line  of  judges,  and 
the  case  was  dismissed  in  less  time  than  it  takes  me  to  describe  the  incident." 

Mr.  Clay  insisted  upon  the  importance  of  speed  in  legal  mat 
ters,  and  created  a  laugh,  even  among  the  honorable  judges,  by 
speaking  of  a  certain  tradition,  illustrating  the  length  of  speeches 
which  are  said  to  have  been  made  by  Philadelphia  lawyers.  He 
did  not  mean  to  convey  the  idea  that  the  lawyers  of  the  brotherly 
city  were  jot  learned  and  highly  honorable  men,  for  he  remem- 


APPROACHING    NATIONAL   CONVENTIONS.  299 

bered  with  the  greatest  respect  the  leases,  the  Lewises,  and 
the  Ingersolls,  of  that  city  ;  but  he  did  mean  to  say  that  they  had 
a  passion  for  long  speeches.  With  regard  to  the  delays  which 
occurred  in  our  courts  of  justice,  he  thought  that  the  lawyers 
themselves  were  generally  at  fault,  though  it  was  sometimes  the 
case  that  the  judges  were  not  quite  as  prompt  as  they  might  be. 
He  spoke  of  the  one-hour  rule  which  prevailed  in  another 
chamber  of  the  capitol,  and  suggested  that  the  present  court 
might  gather  therefrom  a  salutary  lesson. 

At  this  stage  of  his  remarks,  Mr.  Clay  entered  upon  a  state 
ment  of  the  case  under  consideration  ;  and  his  argument  is  rep 
resented  to  have  been  "  brilliant  in  the  extreme,  sound,  graphic, 
clear,  and  persuasive  ;  while  his  voice  and  manners  were  more 
like  those  of  a  lawyer  in  the  early  prime  of  life  than  of  a  pa 
triarch  in  his  profession." 

During  his  sojourn  in  Washington,  Mr.  Clay  dined,  on  one  oc 
casion  with  Mr.  Polk.  "  It  is  likely,"  writes  a  correspondent, 
"  you  have  heard  of  his  remark  to  Mrs.  Polk.  He  observed  with 
infinite  grace,  that  he  had  never  heard  of  anybody  who  com 
plained  in  the  least  of  her  administration,  though  he  had  occa 
sionally  heard  some  complaint  of  her  husband's.  What  a  prim 
rose  path  is  Mr.  Clay's  !  Clothe  him  never  with  '  saddest  cypress.' 
Let  the  almond  and  myrtle  wave  over  his  grave  !" 

The  fourth  Monday  in  May,  and  the  7th  of  June,  having  been 
fixed  upon  by  the  administration  party  and  the  whigs  respectively 
for  their  conventions  for  the  nomination  of  presidential  candidates, 
meetings  began  to  be  held  throughout  the  country,  at  which  strong 
preferences  for  Mr.  Clay  were  enthusiastically  expressed.  Many 
good  whigs  thought  it  more  expedient  to  put  up  General  Taylor , 
and  discussions,  which  the  future  only  could  decide,  were  enter 
ed  upon,  generally  with  candor  and  in  a  good  sjaitit.  New  York 
proclaimed  herself  for  Clay  in  a  mass  meeting  <t  Castle-Garden, 
believed  to  be  not  less  than  ten  thousand  vn:*ig.  "But  its 
numbers,"  said  the  Tribune,  "  vast  as  they  vme  were  but  a 
single  element  of  this  immense  meeting.  In  ch&racter,  intelli 
gence,  order,  and  dignity,  we  doubt  whether  an  assemblage  more 
deserving  of  respect,  was  ever  seen.  Although  the  deep  ancL 
wdent  enthusiasm  for  CLAY  would  frequently  burst  out  in  cheers 


300  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

like  thunder-peals,  especially  at  every  allusion  to  our  great  leader's 
came,  yet  no  word  (that  we  heard)  was  uttered,  or  sentiment 
ev'nced,  disrespectful  to  his  rivals,  and  when  Mr.  White  spoke 
r>f  General  Taylor  as  a  gallant  and  able  commander,  the  expres 
sion  was  warmly  responded  to,  despite  the  unanimous  feeling  that 
HENRY  CLAY  was  the  man  for  president.  Of  course,  when  Mr 
CLAY'S  name  first  occurred  in  the  address,  there  were  such 
demonstrations  of  delight  as  only  failed  to  bring  down  the  roof 
above  us,  and  the  allusion  to  his  Lexington  speech  was  received 
with  hardly  less  enthusiasm.  The  resolution  pledging  the  whigs 
of  New  York  to  abide  and  sustain  the  choice  of  the  whig  national 
convention,  was  most  heartily  responded  to.  And  when  Mr. 
Selden  appealed  to  all  present,  and  especially  to  the  reporters,  to 
say  whether  they  ever  saw  a  larger,  more  unanimous,  more  en 
thusiastic  meeting,  he  called  attention  to  a  truth  which  not  even 
the  most  inveterate  adversary  could  venture  to  gainsay." 

We  wish  we  could  give  at  length  the  proceedings  of  this  ani 
mated  meeting,  but  our  limits  forbid.  Henry  Grinnell,  Esq. 
presided,  and  N.  B.  Blunt,  Esq.,  presented  the  address  and  reso 
lutions.  From  the  former,  we  make  the  following  fragmentary 
quotations  :  — 

"Mexico  lies  bleeding  and  prostrate  at  our  feet  Our  national  honor,  if 
ever  assailed,  has  been  fully  ATindicated.  Vengeance  has  been  sated  with 
blood  and  carnage.  We  can  at  least  afford  to  be  magnanimous.  For  what 
purpose — to  what  end — is  the  war  to  be  further  prosecuted  ?  If  for  con 
quest  :  we  deny  the  right  to  continue  the  war  for  such  a  purpose.  If  for  in 
demnity:  it  lias  already  been  tendered.  The  truth  is,  stripped  of  all  false 
coloring,  the  war  has  assumed  a  new  and  distinct  form.  Territory — the  ex 
tension  of  the  so-called  'area  of  freedom' — a  rapacious  spirit  of  plunder — 
the  spoliation  of  a  weak  and  fallen  enemy — constitute  the  sole  grounds  for 
a  further  continuance  of  the  conflict.  It  can  and  must  be  terminated. 
Human  blood  must  cease  to  flow.  The  cause  of  humanity,  the  honor  of  the 
country,  the  welfare  of  the  people,  justice  and  religion,  imperatively  demand 

that  the  contest  should  end First  and  foremost  among  the 

many  true  patriots  and  statesmen  who  have  raised  their  voices  and  inter 
posed  their  exertions  to  stem  this  flood  of  injustice,  and  to  restore  the  current 
of  public  opinion  to  its  wonted  channel,  stands  the  name  of  HENRY  CLAY  of 
Kentucky.  He  needs  no  eulogium  at  our  hands — his  deeds  are  written  iu 
the  chronicles  of  his  country's  glory.  Pre-eminent  as  he  has  been  in  the 
ChVinet,  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  and  the  field  of  diplomacy — the  moral 
•"ourage,  the  self-devotion,  and  the  calm  sagacity,  displayed  in  his  memorable 
•rneech  at  Lexington,  form  the  crowning  act  in  a  life  well  spent  in  the  service 
t  his  country,  and  designate  him  as  the  MAN  upon  whose  counsels  and  wis- 
f,',xf\  all  may  rely.  "We,  therefore,  the  whigs  of  New  York,  do  hereby 


MEETING    AT    CASTLE-GARDEN,    NEW    YORK.  301 

nominate,  and  do  earnestly  recommend  to  the  whigs  of  the  Union,  HENRY 
CLAY,  as  our  CANDIDATE  FOR  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES." 

The  Hon.  Joseph  L.  White,  the  Hon.  Dudley  Selden,  and 
Horace  Greeley,  Esq.,  addressed  the  meeting  in  eloquent  and 
appropriate  terms.  "  I  believe,"  said  Mr.  Greeley,  "  that  in  the 
last  election  we  could  not  have  been  beaten  but  for  the  unfortunate 
panic  which  broke  out  among  our  fellow-citizens  of  foreign  birth, 
who  feared  that  if  the  whigs  should  succeed  they  would  be  dis 
franchized,  and  even  forbidden  to  live  on  this  soil.  The  election 
of  James  K.  Polk  was  thus  effected  by  fair  votes  and  foul.  Now, 
fellow-citizens,  one  month  before  or  after  the  election,  Mr.  Polk 
could  not  have  been  elected,  and  he,  or  somebody  not  unlike  him, 
will  be  the  candidate  opposed  to  us  again.  Under  these  circum 
stances,  Mr.  Clay  is  the  proper  exponent  of  our  principles  and 
candidate  of  our  party  ;  he  is  the  man  who  would  have  pre 
vented  the  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  war  with  Mexico  ;  he  is 
the  man  who  was  defrauded  out  of  his  election  before.  Now  let 
the  people  have  an  opportunity  to  retrieve  their  error  ;  and  I  be 
lieve  they  will  rush  to  his  standard  with  unexampled  enthusiasm. 
Let  the  whig  banner  float  with  the  name  of  our  tried  and  loved 
leader  inscribed  upon  it,  and  I  am  confident  that  it  will  be  borne 
onward  to  a  signal  and  beneficent  triumph." 

A  letter  from  the  Hon.  John  M.  Botts  of  Virginia,  addressed 
to  the  editor  of  the  Richmond  Whig,  was  read  at  this  meeting, 
and  published  with  the  proceedings.  The  following  extracts, 
illustrating  as  they  do  the  conflict  in  sentiment  among  whigs  pre 
vious  to  the  election  of  1848,  will  be  read  with  interest  in  con 
nection  with  the  political  history  of  Mr.  Clay  :  — 

"If  General  Taylor  is  a  '  no  party  candidate  '  which  is  the  only  position  he 
has  yet  assumed,  then  I  am  not  of  his  party,  for  I  am  a  party  man,  and  that 
party  is  the  whig  party.  I  have  nothing  to  ask,  and  I  want  nothing,  of  Mr. 
Clay  or  General  Taylor,  or  any  other  executive,  and  I  will  not  do,  what  I 
would  regard  as  a  surrender  of  my  principles,  to  make  any  man  president ; 
and,  therefore,  I  can  not  advocate  the  nomination  of  a  gentleman  who  has 
never  filled  a  political  position,  who  comes  fresh  from  the  tented  field, 
heralded  only  by  his  military  achievements,  and  whose  political  views  are 
carefully  concealed  as  well  from  his  friends  as  his  opponents. 

"  Let  me  ask  one  question :  if  General  Taylor  is  elected  as  a  '  no-party' 
candidate,  will  he  prove  a  'no-party'  president?  If  he  should,  then  he  will 
not  suit  me  or  any  other  whig.  If  not,  would  he  not  disappoint  those  who 
elected  him?  If  a  majority  of  the  people  are  so  dissatisfied  with  the  princi- 
p^s  and  measures  of  both  the  great  parties  of  this  country,  as  to  elect  u 


302  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

president  belonging  to  neither,  could  he  select  a  whig  cabinet  and  adopt 
whig  measures,  without  a  betrayal  of  the  trust  confided  to  him  by  those  who 
elected  him  ?  or,  in  other  words,  if  he  is  elected  upon  the  ground  that  he 
will  not  avow  himself  a  whig  and  commit  himself  to  whig  policy,  would  he 
not  be  as  fully  justified  in  selecting  a  locofoco  as  a  whig  cabinet — and  in 
adopting  a  locofoco  as  whig  policy  ? 

"  I  have  reason  to  believe  Mr.  Clay  has  lost  no  strength  in  those  states 
that  he  carried  in  1844,  and  that  he  is  greatly  strengthened  in  many  that  he 
then  lost — especially  in  New  York,  which  our  friends  assure  us  is  beyond  the 
possibility  of  a  doubt — to  say  nothing  of  New  Hampshire  (of  which  many 
of  our  friends  are  confident),  Georgia,  Indiana,  Louisiana,  together  with 
Pennsylvania,  which  may  be  carried  by  selecting  a  suitable  man  to  place  on 
his  ticket — say  either  Scott  or  Clayton.  With  these  views,  I  shall  do  as  I 
believe  my  constituents  would  do,  not  give  him  up  for  any  man  of  doubtful 
principles  and  of  more  doubtful  success. 

"  When  I  say  I  feel  confident  that  Mr.  Clay  can  be  elected,  I  know  I  shall 
be  answered — '  So  you  thought  in  '44.'  True,  I  did — so  did  we  all ;  but  that 
is  no  reason  we  should  be  deceived  again — it  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  best 
reason  why  we  should  not  be.  I  am  only  rendered  the  more  cautious  in  my 
calculations  by  that  unexpected  and  disastrous  defeat. 

"  He  will  not  only  not  have  the  catholic  excitement,  the  foreign  influence, 
the  native  American  party,  the  annexation  of  Texas,  <fec.,  <fcc.,  to  operate 
against  him,  but  they  will  all  work  in  his  favor,  and  most  of  all,  this  wicked 
and  horrible  war,  and  the  ruinous  condition  of  the  country,  which  will  be 
plainly  spread  before  every  man's  eyes  before  the  election  comes  on,  will 
swell  his  triumph,  in  my  belief,  beyond  all  calculation  that  his  most  sanguine 
friends  have  yet  made — and  if  the  whig  party  are  sincere  in  their  expression 
of  preference  for  him,  my  advice  to  them  is,  to  hold  on  to  him  as  their  only 
sheet-anchor,  for  the  conservative  principles  of  whiggery. 

"At  all  events,  let  us  await  the  action  of  a  national  convention.  It  will 
be  time  enough  for  us  who  prefer  him,  to  give  up  Mr.  Clay,  when  the  whigs 
of  the  nation,  in  grand  council  assembled,  shall  recommend  General  Taylor 
to  us  as  a  proper  and  more  available  candidate." 

What  gave  added  interest  to  the  great  Castle- Garden  meeting, 
was  the  fact  that  it  was  held  on  the  anniversary  of  the  day  when 
the  news  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent  was  received  at  New  York. 
Thirty-three  years  before,  the  British  sloop-of-war  Bramble  had 
come  into  the  bay,  and  "just  as  twilight  was  deepening  into 
darkness,  a  pilot-boat  came  up  to  Whitehall,  announcing  her 
arrival  with  the  tidings  that  PEACE  had  been  made  at  Ghent  by 
HENRY  CLAY  and  his  associates  in  that  memorable  commission." 

On  Monday,  the  22d  of  February,  at  half-past  one  o'clock,  the 
venerable  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  in  his  eighty-first  year,  while 
in  his  seat  in  the  house  of  representatives,  was  stricken  down  by 
paralysis,  and  borne  to  the  speaker's  room  in  the  capitol.  It  had 
been  the  earnest  wish  of  his  heart  to  die  like  Chatham  in  the 
midst  3f  his  Hbors,  and  that  wish  was  accomplished  literally. 


DEATH  OF  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS.  303 

"  This  is  the  last  of  earth  —  I  am  content !"  was  the  last  memor 
able  sentence  that  he  uttered.  The  expiring  statesman  was 
placed  on  a  cot-bed,  with  his  head  toward  the  west.  In  this  con 
dition,  breathing  calmly,  except  at  intervals,  and  manifesting  no 
signs  of  pain,  he  lingered,  for  the  most  part  insensible,  for  fiftv 
four  hours.  While  he  lay  in  this  state,  Mr.  Clay  visited  mm,  and 
for  some  minutes  held  the  hand  of  his  speechless  and  unconscious 
friend  in  silent  grief.  Look  at  that  spectacle,  ye  who  still  attach 
any  credit  to  the  vile  slander  against  those  two  noblest  Americans, 
that  there  was  a  huckstering  bargain  between  them  for  the  sale 
of  the  presidency  !  Clay  takes  the  hand  of  the  dying  Adams  — 
of  the  mighty  man,  and  the  ancient,  the  eloquent  counsellor,  the 
incorruptible  patriot,  the  laborious  and  brave-hearted  statesman, 
the  truly  honest  man  !  Who  can  doubt,  that  could  he  have  spoken, 
the  "  old  man  eloquent"  would  have  said  of  those  charges  against 
Mr.  Clay,  as  he  said  of  them  in  1843  :  "  As  I  expect  shortly  to 
appear  before  my  God  to  answer  for  the  conduct  of  my  whole 
life,  should  those  charges  have  found  their  way  to  the  throne  of 
eternal  justice,  I  will,  in  the  presence  of  Omnipotence,  pronounce 
them  false  !" 

The  physician  had  told  Mr.  Clay  that  Mr.  Adams  might  linger 
for  a  week  or  more.  Mr.  Clay  had  professional  business  in 
Philadelphia,  which  claimed  his  early  attention.  His  friends, 
too,  had  made  arrangements  for  his  reception.  Thousands,  who 
had  been  expecting  him,  would  be  awaiting  him  on  his  way. 
Under  these  circumstances,  he  did  not  feel  justified  in  disap 
pointing  public  expectation.  Two  hours  after  his  departure  from 
Washington,  Mr.  Adams  died  ;  but  it  was  not  till  he  was  on  his 
journey  from  Baltimore  to  Philadelphia,  that  Mr.  Clay  received 
the  sad  intelligence. 

He  arrived  at  Baltimore  the  evening  of  the  24th,  and  was  le- 
ceived  at  the  railroad-depot  by  an  immense  crowd.  Arrived  at 
the  residence  of  his  friend,  Christopher  Hughes,  the  crowd, 
which  had  followed,  congregated  in  front  of  the  dwelling,  and, 
amid  constant  and  loud  cheers,  called  for  Mr.  Clay  to  make  his 
appearance.  After  a  short  delay,  an  upper  window  was  thrown 
open,  and  Mr.  Clay  made  his  appearance,  greeted  by  tremendous 
cheering.  When  silence  was  with  difficulty  restored,  he  said — • 


304  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  want  to  know  what  you  are  making  all  this 
noise  about  ?" 

"  We  wanted  to  see  you,"  and  loud  cheers,  was  the  response. 

A  voice  in  the  crowd.  — "  You  are  that  same  old  coon  yet !" 

Mr.  Clay.  —  "Exactly:  I  am  that  same  old  coon."  Loud 
cheers  again,  and  laughter. 

Mr.  Clay.  — "  Gentlemen,  now  I  will  make  a  compromise  with 
you  :  if  you  will  let  me  alone,  I  will  let  you  alone !" 

He  here  withdrew,  amid  the  most  vociferous  cheering,  the 
window  was  closed,  and  the  crowd  withdrew. 

Early  the  next  morning,  Mr.  Clay  started  for  Philadelphia, 
where  his  reception  was  again  as  cordial  and  brilliant  as  the  most 
extensive  popular  enthusiasm  could  make  it.  He  here  became 
the  guest  of  the  mayor,  Mr.  Swift.  "  You  are  the  most  unrea 
sonable  set  of  people  I  ever  met !"  said  Mr.  Clay  to  the  immense 
concourse  which  gathered  in  front  of  the  house,  in  the  hope  of 
getting  a  speech  from  him.  "  You  want  something  to  come  out 
of  my  mouth,  and  I  want  to  put  something  into  it.  [Laughter.] 
Will  you  agree  with  me  on  one  point — that  is,  to  go  home  and 
get  your  suppers,  and  let  me  get  my  dinner  ?"  [Cheers  and 
laughter.]  The  crowd  then  dispersed,  after  giving  "  three  times 
three"  for  Henry  Clay  ! 

At  a  public  reception  meeting,  the  ensuing  Saturday,  at  Inde 
pendence  hall,  Mr.  Clay  remarked  that,  "  but  for  the  loss  that  the 
country  has  just  sustained  in  the  decease  of  Mr.  Adams,  this 
would  have  been  one  of  the  happiest  occasions  of  his  life.  As 
it  was,  the  loss  of  the  purest  of  patriots  and  best  of  men,  had 
caused  a  sensation  of  grief  to  pervade  the  whole  country  ;  and 
how  much  greater  than  those  of  others,  must  be  the  feelings  of 
one  who  had  been  closely  connected  with  him,  in  both  public  and 
private  life  —  who  had  ever  found  him,  at  all  times,  and  under  all 
circumstances,  the  pure  and  elevated  patriot — the  tried,  the  faith 
ful  friend,  the  wise  and  good  man  !  The  loss  was  heavy  to  all, 
but  to  none  more  so  than  the  speaker.  His  heart  was  so  sur 
charged  with  the  emotions  natural  to  the  loss,  that  he  could  make 
no  set  speech  ;  yet  he  could  not  avoid  referring  to  the  sad  event." 

Mr.  Clay's  visit,  to  Philadelphia  was  connected  with  profes 
sional  business  in  the  settlement  of  a  large  estate,  of  which  he 


VISIT    TO    NEW    YORK.  305 

was  left  the  executor  by  a  former  resident  of  that  city,  who  died 
some  years  before  in  Indiana.  But  being  so  near  New  York,  he 
could  not  well  decline  the  pressing  and  unanimous  invitation  of 
her  common  council  to  pay  them  a  visit  as  the  city's  guest.  He 
left  for  New  York  the  7th  of  March,  encountering  there  and 
everywhere  the  same  hearty  reception  which  he  had  before  so 
often  experienced. 

The  following  account  of  Mr.  Clay's  reception  by  the  corpora- 
iion  of  New  York,  and  of  his  visit  in  the  city,  was  originally 
published  in  the  New  York  Daily  Tribune,  from  which  it  is  here 
taken,  with  slight  alterations.  The  reception  took  place  on  Tues 
day,  March  7,  1848.  The  Tribune  says  :  — 

"  A  more  brilliant  day  for  the  ceremonies  attendant  upon  the  visit  of 
Henry  Clay  to  our  city  could  not  have  been  desired.  The  air  was  clear  and 
elastic,  the  skies  bright,  and  the  waters  of  the  bay  as  smooth  as  in  summer. 
Nature  seemed  to  have  decked  herself  in  holyday  attire  to  welcome  the 
illustrious  statesman  to  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  Union. 

"  The  splendid  and  spacious  steamer  C.  Vanderbilt,  had  been  kindly  placed 
at  the  disp'seal  of  the  common  council  by  Captain  Vanderbilt  for  the  occa 
sion.  She  had  been  newly  painted  and  refitted  for  the  season  just  com 
mencing,  and,  by  her  beauty  and  convenience  of  her  arrangements,  was  well 
adapted  for  the  service  to  which  she  was  now  appropriated. 

"  The  committee  having  in  charge  the  duty  of  meeting  Mr.  Clay  at  Amboy 
and  conducting  him  to  the  city,  had  contemplated  being  accompanied  by 
some  two  hundred  invited  guests ;  but  so  great  was  the  desire  to  see  the 
city's  illustrious  visiter,  that  at  least  six  hundred  persons  obtained  tickets, 
and  only  the  impossibility  of  making  room  for  a  larger  number,  prevented 
a  much  more  crowded  attendance.  Among  those  present  were  the  members 
of  the  common  council  and  many  eminent  citizens,  in  both  public  and  pri 
vate  life.  All  seemed  filled  with  that  enthusiastic  attachment  to  Mr.  Clay 
which  he,  of  all  men,  has  the  power  of  calling  forth  and  securing.  As  the 
Vanderbilt  put  off,  she  was  loudly  cheered  by  the  multitude  assembled  on 
the  wharf,  and  the  passengers  of  one  or  two  boats  that  she  met  in  the  pas 
sage  down  the  bay,  manifested  the  same  sympathy  in  the  purpose  of  the  ex 
cursion. 

The  boat  arrived  at  Amboy  at  about  half-past  eleven  o'clock,  and,  as  soon 
as  the  cars  arrived,  the  committee  proceeded  on  shore  to  receive  Mr.  Clay, 
with  the  Philadelphia  delegation,  and  escort  him  on  board.  When  he  ap 
peared,  the  air  was  rent  with  shouts,  which  were  repeated  as  he  passed  amid 
the  crowd,  quietly  bowing  his  response  to  the  warm  expressions  of  those 
around  him.  He  appeared  in  excellent  health,  and  bore  himself  erect  with 
all  the  vigor  of  a  young  man.  His  form  has  lost  little  of  its  apparent 
strength,  and  his  features  retain  the  same  manly  and  noble  graciousness 
which  so  truly  express  the  character  of  the  man.  He  was  conducted  to  the 
upper  saloon  of  the  Vanderbilt,  where  Morton  M 'Michael,  Esq.,  on  behalf  of 
the  Philadelphia  committee,  resigned  him  into  the  care  of  our  city  council 
in  the  following  address : — 

"  *  MR.  PRESIDENT  :  The  committee  which  speaks  through  me,  have  coma 

20 


306  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

hither  in  the  behalf  of  the  people  of  Philadelphia,  to  transfer  to  vo'ir  care 
the  illustrious  citizen  who,  for  some  days  past,  has  been  our  honored  guest 
He  came  among  us  in  no  public  capacity  and  on  no  public  mission,  not  ex 
pecting  any  of  the  gratifications  and  enjoyments  which  there  may  be  in  loud 
and  earnest  expressions  of  the  general  regard.  He  came,  rather  anxious  to 
avoid  all  ceremony  and  parade,  and  desiring  only  to  meet  his  old  familiar 
friends  in  the  old  familiar  way.  In  this  desire,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  for 
me  to  say,  it  was  impossible  that  he  should  be  gratified.  All  hearts  sponta 
neously  rebelled  against  such  a  purpose.  The  whole  people  of  Philadelphia, 
animated  by  one  common  impulse  of  affection,  poured  forth  into  the  streets, 
thronged  the  roofs  and  windows  of  the  houses,  till  they  presented  such  & 
spectacle  as  was  never  seen  before : — 

"  You  would  have  thought  the  very  windows  spoke 
So  many  greedy  looks  of  young  and  old 
Darted  through  casements  their  desiring  eyes 
Upon  his  visage  :  and  that  all  the  walls, 
Painted  with  imagery,  had  said  aloud, 
'  Jesu  preserve  thee — welcome  HENRY  CLAY  !' " 

"  '  So  it  was  the  next  day,  so  it  was  all  the  days  that  he  was  among  us. 
So  constant,  so  tireless,  so  enthusiastic,  were  the  well-meant  kindnesses  of  our 
people,  that  I  for  one  was  afraid  that  the  object  of  them  would  be  totally 
overwhelmed  and  exhausted.  Those  overflowing  marks  of  love  were  such, 
indeed,  as  few  but  Henry  Clay  could  have  elicited  :  nay,  they  were  such  as 
hardly  any,  save  himself,  could  have  endured.  They  came,  too,  from  deeper 
feelings  than  party  motives :  they  sprang  from  those  beautiful  instincts  of 
our  spiritual  nature,  which  prompt  admiration  for  whatever  is  truly  great, 
and  noble,  and  exalted  in  man !  They  showed  that  men  love  and  reverence 
those  who  lift  themselves  above  the  meanness  and  narrowness  to  which  less 
gifted  and  elevated  natures  are  prone,  and  showed  that  in  so  doing,  all  must 
deeply  and  truly  love  and  reverence  Henry  Clay.  Yes,  reverence  him  as 
one  whose  tongue  was  never  tainted  with  falsehood,  nor  his  soul  stained  with 
shame! 

"  '  Nor  was  it  the  members  of  his  own  party  alone  who  thus  arose  to  do 
him  honor,  but  the  members  of  all  parties.  All  looked  to  him — all  turned 
to  him — all  were  irresistibly  drawn  to  him,  as  to  one  before  whom  Nature 
herself  could  stand  up  and  say  to  all  the  world,  '  This  is  a  MAN  !' 

"  '  "We  should  feel  a  deep  pain  in  thus  separating  from  one  we  so  love  ; 
but  under  a  view  of  the  cordial  invitation  which  you  have  extended  to  him, 
and  the  general  desire  of  all  your  citizens  to  have  him  among  you,  we  feel 
that  you  are  entitled  to  some  portion  of  that  pleasure  which  his  presence 
everywhere  bestows.  We  resign  him  to  you  in  full  confidence  that  you  will 
welcome  him  as  no  man  could  be  welcomed  but  Henry  Clay !' " 

Mr.  M' Michael's  speech  was  interrupted  by  frequent  applause, 
and  was  warmly  responded  to  at  the  close. 

When  silence  was  restored,  Hon.  Morris  Franklin,  president 
of  the  board  of  aldermen,  turned  to  Mr.  Clay  and  addressed  him 
as  follows  :  — 

"On  behalf  of  the  common  council  of  our  city,  and  of  the  assembled 
thousands,  who  are  now  awaiting  your  arrival  in  anxious  expectation,  I  am 
the  honored  instrument  of  tendering  you  a  sincere  and  cordial  welcome  to 
their  hospitality,  and  to  assure  you  of  a  warm  and  heartfelt  reception  in  the 
commercial  metropolis  of  our  country.  For  in  the  anticipation  of  this,  your 


ADDRESS    OP    MORRIS    FRANKLIN.  307 

visit,  every  sectional  prejudice  has  been  forgotten,  and  we  are  united  as  the 
heart  of  one  man  in  extending  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  so  distinguished 
and  illustrious  a  stranger.  You  have  come  among  us,  sir,  not  with  the  gilded 
trappings  of  military  splendor,  nor  the  bugle-notes  of  a  victorious  chieftain  ; 
with  no  public  patronage  with  which  to  reward  your  followers,  but  merely  as  a 
private  citizen — yet  wearing  upon  your  brow  as  proud  a  civic  wreath  as  could 
be  entwined  by  the  affections  of  the  American  people  for  one  of  their  noblest 
and  most  honored  sons.  It  is,  therefore,  in  the  sincerity  of  our  hearts,  that 
we  anticipate  with  pleasure  the  opportunity  which  you  have  afforded  us  of 
presenting  to  our  constituents  one  whom  all  will  delight  to  honor,  who,  in 
the  enthusiasm  of  their  feelings  will  hail  with  pleasure  that  hour  when  you 
shall  have  become  their  welcome  and  their  honored  guest,  and  they  shall 
have  seen  the  person  and  heard  the  voice  of  him,  ivho  for  so  many  years, 
has  been  associated  in  their  recollections  with  the  darkest  and  brightest  days 
of  our  country's  history.  For  whether  at  foreign  courts,  in  the  domestic 
cabinet,  or  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  your  services  will  ever  be  appreciated 
by  a  grateful  and  confiding  people,  and  when  this  age,  with  all  its  partialities 
and  prejudices,  shall  have  passed  away,  and  the  future  historian  shall  sketch 
a  faithful  picture 'of  the  past,  your  name  will  appear  in  bold  relief  among 
its  noblest  and  purest  sons. 

"We  the  more  fully  appreciate  this  visit,  sir,  because  we  know  that  you 
have  yielded  to  our  invitation,  not  to  gratify  any  ambition  of  your  own,  nor 
to  build  up  or  establish  present  or  posthumous  fame,  but  to  gratify  the  peo 
ple  of  our  own  city,  and  to  respond  to  the  wish  unanimously  expressed,  that 
once  again  they  might  be  permitted  to  welcome  as  their  guest  the  statesman 
whom  they  honor  and  the  citizen  whom  they  love.  For  had  you  consulted 
only  your  own  feelings,  or  the  dictates  of  your  own  judgment,  you  would 
have  avoided  the  multitude  which  you  are  about  to  encounter.  Sir,  we  are 
an  enthusiastic  people,  and  while  we  shall  endeavor  to  consult  your  wishes 
so  as  to  render  your  visit  pleasant  and  agreeable,  yet  it  would  be  too  much 
for  us  to  promise,  or  you  to  expect,  that  quiet  and  repose  which  we  know 
you  desire,  and  which  threescore  years  and  ten  demand.  As  well  might  we 
undertake  to  lull  the  raging  tempest,  and  say  to  the  winds,  'Be  still!'  as  to 
control  the  excitement  of  our  people  when  the  Sage  of  Ashland  treads  upon 
their  soil  and  walks  within  their  midst.  But  we  can  and  do  commend  you 
to  Him  who  controls  the  destinies  of  nations,  to  protect  you  as  in  the  hollow 
of  his  hand  while  absent  from  your  home,  and  again  restore  you  to  those 
domestic  associations  within  the  family  circle — alas,  so  recently  reduced  I 
In  retrospecting  upon  the  past,  or  looking  forward  to  the  future,  you  may 
realize  the  fact,  that  however  situated,  whether  upon  the  classic  shores  of 
Greece  or  among  the  republics  of  South  America,  whether  pleading  the  cause 
of  dismembered  Poland,  or  oppressed  and  unhappy  Ireland,  the  name  of 
Henry  Clay  will  remain  as  a  monument  of  devoted  patriotism,  from  which 
we  and  our  children  may  derive  lessons  of  instruction  worthy  of  the  philan 
thropist  and  the  scholar,  the  statesman  and  the  man !  Again  we  welcome 
you  on  board  this  noble  steamer;  the  mayor  will  respond  to  it  upon  our 
arrival,  and  all  the  people  will  join  in  one  harmonious  shout  of  '  Welcome ! 
welcome  to  our  homes !'  " 

When  President  Franklin  had  concluded,  Mr.  Clay  replied  as 
follows  :  — 

"  Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Council  of  New  York  :  I  thank  you 
most  heartily  for  this  interesting  occasion,  and  thank  you,  sir,  for  the  senti- 


308  LIFE    OF   HENRY    CLAY. 

ments  which  you  have  done  me  the  honor  of  expressing.  I  wish  that  I  could 
find  language  to  convey  to  you  the  feeling  and  the  gratitude  with  which  the 
very  cordial  and  flattering  manner  of  this  reception  is  received.  But  the 
truth  is,  and  I  might  as  well  own  it,  that  if  I  ever  had  any  great  talent  at 
public  speaking,  elocution,  or  eloquence,  it  can  not  now  be  exerted,  and  for 
two  reasons :  one  is  that  my  heart  is  full,  and  the  other  that  I  am  myself  the 
subject.  And  if  ever  I  have  exerted  any  power  of  eloquence,  it  has  not 
been  for  myself,  but  for  my  country.  [Loud  applause.]  *  *  *  * 

"  And  now,  Mr.  President,  though  I  can  not  respond  to  your  welcome  in 
the  terms  of  eloquence,  I  can  at  least  clasp  your  hand,  and  assure  you  how 
happy  I  am  to  be  once  more  among  my  fellow-citizens  of  New  York,  and  to 
meet  those  who  are  intrusted  with  the  high  duty  of  directing  the  destinies 
of  so  great  and  important  a  city." 

During  the  delivery  of  Mr.  Clay's  speech,  the  saloon  deck  yield 
ed  to  the  weight  of  the  crowd,  and  gave  way  some  three  inches, 
and  the  alarm  was  given  that  it  was  breaking  through.  Many 
persons,  in  consequence,  retreated  to  the  lower  deck.  Mr.  Clay, 
looking  around,  as  if  to  see  what  was  about  to  happen,  was 
assured  by  the  captain  of  the  boat  that  there  was  no  danger. 
"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  like  always  to  know  the  ground  I  stand  on." 
Through  the  whole  trip  he  seemed  in  excellent  spirits,  and  many 
genial  sallies  from  his  lips  were  received  with  loud  satisfaction 
by  those  surrounding  him. 

After  he  had  concluded  speaking,  there  was  a  general  rush  to 
take  him  by  the  hand,  but  he  obtained  silence  by  waving  a 
splendid  bouquet,  the  gift  doubtless  of  some  fair  Philadelphian, 
and  said,  "  Gentlemen,  you  know  I  am  a  good  deal  of  a  compro 
mise  man.  I  have  a  compromise  to  propose  to  you,  which  is, 
that  instead  of  your  coming  up  to  shake  my  hand,  I  shall  go 
around  and  shake  yours."  This  was  unanimously  agreed  to,  of 
course,  and  he  descended  upon  the  main  deck,  exchanging  salu 
tations  with  old  friends  or  new  ones  by  the  way.  Between  High- 
Constable  Hays  and  himself,  a  very  playful  meeting  took  place  ; 
and  to  whatever  quarter  of  the  boat  he  went,  he  was  greeted  with 
the  same  hearty  cheers  which  welcomed  him  on  board  at  first. 
Finally,  after  partaking  of  a  lunch,  he  went  upon  the  hurricane 
deck,  whence,  in  the  wheel-house,  he  had  a  fair  view  of  the 
scenery  of  the  bay  on  the  way  up. 

On  arriving  at  the  city,  instead  of  landing  at  Castle-Garden, 
as  had  been  contemplated,  the  Vanderbilt  was  obliged,  by  the 
state  of  the  tide,  to  land  at  pier  No.  2.  From  there  Mr.  Clay, 


RECEPTION    AT    CASTLE-GARDEN.  309 

accompanied  by  the  common  council,  the  Philadelphia  delegation, 
and  a  large  number  of  citizens,  marched  through  the  muddy 
streets  to  Castle-Garden.  The  crowd  in  the  streets  and  on  the 
Battery  was  immense,  and  so  thick  that  it  was  difficult  for  the 
police  to  make  way  for  the  procession  to  move.  As  Mr.  Clay 
passed  along,  he  was  greeted  by  such  cheers  as  only  the  warm 
enthusiasm  of  spontaneous  hearts  can  produce. 

On  entering  Castle-Garden,  an  impressive  spectacle  then  pre 
sented  itself.  The  whole  of  that  vast  area  was  filled  with  people, 
waiting  with  impatience  for  his  arrival.  As  soon  as  he  entered, 
he  was  greeted  by  deafening  cheers,  which  were  repeated  until 
it  seemed  as  if  the  people  would  not  have  done  with  these  proofs 
of  their  affection  for  their  distinguished  visiter.  At  last  silence 
was  restored,  when  President  Franklin  spoke  as  follows  to  the 
mayor :  — 

"  YOUR  HONOR  :  I  have  pleasure,  in  behalf  of  the  committee  of  the  com 
mon  council,  to  commit  to  your  charge,  together  with  that  of  this  vast  as- 
sembl.ige  of  our  fellow-citizens,  the  body  of  Henry  Clay  of  Kentucky." 

Alter  the  cheering  had  again  subsided,  his  honor  the  mayor 
9' .ose  and  spoke  in  these  terms  :  — 

"Me,  CLAY:  The  pleasing  duty  has  been  assigned  to  me  as  the  representa- 
.ive  of  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  city  of  New  York,  to  tender  to  you 
Its  hospitalities — to  extend  to  you  a  cordial  welcome. 

"  It  is  not  necessary  for  me — indeed,  sir,  it  would  not  become  me  on  an 
occasion  like  the  present — to  advert  to  your  many  and  valued  public  services. 
The  whole  country  gratefully  acknowledge  the  zeal,  the  devotion  with  which 
a  whole  life  his  been  passed  in  upholding  her  interests — in  defending  her 
honor — in  augmenting  her  prosperity — and  we,  sir,  citizens  of  the  great  com 
mercial  metropolis  of  this  western  world,  rejoice  that  we  are  permitted  to 
testify  to  you  personally  our  appreciation  of  the  worth,  the  talents,  the 
statesmanship,  and  the  pure  patriotism,  which  have  combined  to  surround 
with  a  hale  of  imperishable  glory  the  name  of  Henry  Clay. 

"  Our  welcome,  sir,  is  not  mere  lip-service,  but  from  the  abundance  of  the 
heart  the  mouth  speaks. 

"  We  receive  you,  sir,  as  the  honored,  the  cherished  guest  of  this  great 
city.  Its  inhabitants,  without  reference  to  creeds,  or  sects,  or  parties,  have 
come  forth  to  greet  you,  and  in  their  name,  sir,  with  all  the  warmth  which 
words  fresh  from  the  heart  can  convey,  I  bid  you  WELCOME," 

Mr.  Clay  then  rose  and  replied  as  follows  :  — 

"MR,  MAYOR:  I  wish  I  could  find  adequate  language  to  express  to  you 
aiid  this  audience  the  feelings  of  a  grateful  heart,  the  feelings  excited  by  this 
splendid  and  magnificent  reception.  ****** 

"  But,  Mr.  Mayor,  the  president  of  the  councils  has  told  you  that  he  has 
committed  my  body  to  your  custody.  Sir,  that  expression  could  not  fail  to 


310  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

excite  some  reflection  in  my  mind,  and  to  call  up  some  thoughts  and  feeling* 
there,  an  expression  of  which  I  feel  bound  to  endeavor  to  make. 

''My  arrival  here  to-day,  has  been  signalized  by  the  discharge  of  cannon, 
by  the  display  of  flags,  by  the  sound  of  gay  and  exulting  music,  and  by  the 
ehouts  and  cheers  of  an  affectionate  multitude  directed  toward  myself.  I 
am  proud  and  thankful  for  those  evidences  of  regard,  and  of  value,  for  the 
humble  services  of  an  individual  whom  you  esteem  far  too  highly.  But,  sir 
these  testimonies  offered  to  the  living,  could  not  fail  to  remind  me  of  the  just 
honors  about  to  be  paid  to  the  dead.  To-morrow's  sun  will  rise  upon  another 
and  a  different  spectacle  than  thatwrhich  it  to-day  beholds,  as  the  venerable 
remains  of  the  illustrious  ex-president  of  the  United  States  reach  this  city. 
Then,  instead  of  the  cheers  of  joy  and  gladness  which  have  been  uttered 
upon  this  occasion,  there  will  be  the  still  expression  of  solemn  and  saddened 
feeling.  As  I  contemplate  the  scene  which  will  be  presented  on  that  antici 
pated  arrival,  as  I  recollect  the  signal  services  and  glorious  career  of  the 
great  departed,  and  the  position  to  which  he  now  has  passed — a  position 
which  awaits  us  all — I  am  moved  to  suppress  the  feelings  of  grateful  joy 
which  would  otherwise  overflow  within  me  on  an  occasion  so  honorable  to  my 
self.  Ought  not  the  contrast  between  this  day's  performances — between  the 
joy  and  gladness  this  day  manifested  on  the  arrival  of  an  humble  individual, 
whose  efforts  in  our  country's  behalf  you  much  too  highly  appreciate,  and 
the  ceremonies  which  will  follow  to-morrow,  to  make  a  deep  impression  on 
our  minds?  Ought  they  not  for  the  few  days  remaining  to  us  to  moderate 
the  unworthy  impulses  which  most  men  bring  into  the  strife  of  existence — to 
repress  and  diminish  the  violence  of  party  contests,  and  the  heat  and  acri 
mony  of  party  feeling,  for  the  brief  space  which  intervenes  between  the 
present  moment  and  that  moment  near  at  hand  when  we  shall  be  all  laid  low 
in  the  narrow  house  which  our  venerable  and  pure-hearted  patriot  now 
occupies  ? 

"  I  hope,  Mr.  Mayor,  that  we  may  profit  by  this  contrast,  and  hereafter 
entertain  less  of  that  embittered  feeling  which  too  often  urges  us,  that  we  may 
restrain  our  ardor  in  the  pursuit  of  cherished  objects  in  the  sense  of  responsi 
bility  which  we  ought  to  cherish  toward  the  Governor  of  all,  and  in  the 
expectation  of  that  moment  which  must  sooner  or  later  bring  us  all  to  the 
dust. 

"Mr.  Mayor,  I  could  not  pass  by  this  topic,  thus  suggested  to  me.  And 
now,  sir,  will  you  permit  me  to  thank  yourself  and  the  public  authorities 
of  the  people  of  this  city,  for  this  splendid  reception,  and  for  the  kindness 
and  liberal  hospitality  which  you  have  authorized  me  to  expect  at  your 
hands  ?" 

Mr.  Clay  concluded,  with  loud  applause  from  the  assembled 
multitude,  by  whom  he  had  also  been  frequently  interrupted  in 
the  course  of  his  remarks. 

The  procession  was  then  formed  at  the  Battery,  and  moved  up 
through  Broadway  in  the  appointed  order,  amid  the  cheers  of  the 
almost  impassable  mass  who  had  assembled  from  one  end  of  the 
street  to  the  other,  on  this  beautiful  afternoon,  to  do  honor  to 
Henry  Clay. 

On  the  next  day  after  his  arrival,  the  funeral  procession  in 
tionor  of  Mr.  Adams,  took  place,  arid  Mr  Clay,  who  participated 


VISIT    TO    RUTGERS    YOUNG    LADIES1    INSTITUTE.  311 

in  it,  received  no  visits,  and  avoided  those  manifestations  of  at 
tachment  which  the  people  seemed  universally  to  be  animated 
with  toward  kirn.  In  the  forenoon,  however,  he  visited  the 
Rutgers  Young  Ladies'  institute,  where  a  great  number  of  ladies 
were  assembled  to  receive  him.  He  was  addressed  in  behalf  of 
the  young  ladies  by  the  principal,  who  also  read  an  address  to 
him  composed  by  members  of  the  institution.  From  this  address, 
we  give  one  or  two  paragraphs,  together  with  Mr.  Clay's  reply  :  — 

"  We  hail  you  as  the  advocate  of  peace — the  richest  boon  that  can  be  con 
ferred  upon  a  nation.  And  while  we  admire  the  patriotism  that  would  not 
spare  a  well-beloved  son  in  the  hour  of  trial,  but  endured  with  calm  resig 
nation  that  the  fond  object  of  a  father's  deep  affection  should  be  sacrificed 
upon  the  altar  of  his  country's  good  ;  still  more  would  we  honor  that  moral 
courage  that  manfully  maintains  the  right  in  the  face  of  the  greatest  oppo 
sition,  and  boldly  condemns  the  spirit  of  war  and  aggression.  To  such  a 
spirit,  cherished  and  regarded  by  the  nation's  rulers,  must  we  be  indebted 
,"or  the  blessings  of  peace  in  our  own  highly-favored  land ;  for  the  extended 
commerce,  and  polished  society  of  large  and  opulent  cities,  or  the  grateful 
retirement,  and  refining  pleasures  of  the  country ;  but  most  of  all,  for  the 
knowledge  and  understanding  of  those  arts  and  sciences  which  more  adorn 
our  country  than  stately  edifices,  or  well-tilled  grounds,  and  our  institutions 
of  learning  that  shall  rightly  train  the  youthful  mind,  and  fit  the  wom.en  of 
America  for  an  elevated  station  in  this  great  republic.  And  to  you,  and  men 
of  your  principles,  we  look  for  the  diffusion  of  like  mercies  in  a  neighboring 
nation,  whose  smiling  valleys  and  fruitful  fields  have  been  laid  waste  by  the 
cruel  spirit  of  rapine  and  bloodshed. 

"And  now,  dear  sir,  in  conclusion,  we  would  tender  our  heartfelt  ac 
knowledgments  for  the  great  pleasure  and  honor  which  your  visit  has  afford 
ed  us.  The  events  of  this  day  can  never  be  forgotten  by  us;  the  remem 
brance  of  Henry  Clay  will  ever  be  indelibly  engraved  upon  our  hearts. 

"  God  bless  you,  and  preserve  you,  and  may  your  path  continue  to  be  like 
that  of  the  revered  one  whom  the  nation  now  mourns — 'shining  more  and 
more  unto  the  perfect  day.' " 

Mr.  Clay  then  replied  briefly  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  thank  you,  sir,  and  the  young  ladies  whom  you  represent,  for  this  cor 
dial  welcome  and  distinguished  reception.  Among  the  agreeable  incidents 
*vnich  attended  my  brief  visit  to  this  city,  there  is  no  one  to  which  I  shall 
looi  with  more  satisfaction  and  delight  than  upon  my  having  had  occasion 
to  mec,u  in  this  place  the  future  mothers  and  present  daughters  of  my  coun 
try.  I  did  not  come  here  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  speech,  but  I  will, 
however,  say  that  I  trust  that  the  noble  objects  which  the  founder  of  this  in- 
etitution  had  in  view  in  its  establishment,  may  be  fully  attained.  I  trust  that 
the  opportunities  which  the  young  ladies  possess  of  improving  their  minds, 
cultivating  their  taste,  expanding  their  understandings,  by  the  advantages 
here  offered,  may  not  be  lost,  but  that  they  may  fulfil  their  high  destinies, 
and  render  themselves  a  blessing  to  their  parents,  an  ornament  to  their  coun 
try,  and  acceptable  to  lhat  God  to  whose  providence  I  shall  always  pray  for 
tbeir  prosperity  fame  and  happiness." 


312  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Mr.  Clay  having  concluded,  withdrew,  receiving  at  every  step 
on  the  passage  out  of  the  room,  the  smiles  of  that  beautiful  crowd 
of  girls,  and  shaking  the  hands  and  replying  to  the  salutations 
and  good  wishes  of  those  who  happened  to  be  near  enough  to 
speak  to  him. 

On  Thursday  morning,  March  9th,  Mr.  Clay,  in  company  of 
the  common  council,  drove  out  to  the  Institution  for  the  Blind 
On  arriving,  he  was  received  by  the  principal,  who  briefly  ad 
dressed  him,  and  drew  forth  from  Mr.  Clay  one  of  the  most  feli 
citous  and  beautiful  speeches  that  it  was  ever  the  fortune  of  those 
uresent  to  listen  to.  It  was  full  of  pathos  and  the  eloquence  of 
elevated  sentiment.  This  was  followed  by  poetical  addresses  to 
Mr.  Clay  from  two  young  ladies,  pupils  of  the  institute,  with 
which  he  was  highly  gratified. 

The  party  then  proceeded  to  the  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb,  where  addresses  were  also  delivered.  The  distinguished 
visiter  was  greatly  interested  in  the  modes  and  results  of  the  in 
struction  administered  at  those  admirable  institutions. 

It  was  intended  to  visit  the  High  Bridge,  but  owing  to  the 
severity  of  the  rain,  the  party  returned  to  the  city.  At  six  o'clock, 
Mr.  Clay  dined  with  the  common  council  at  the  New  York  hotel, 
and  in  the  evening,  appeared  at  the  ball  at  the  Broadway  theatre. 
This  was  a  most  brilliant  festival.  Even  the  violent  rain,  which 
prevailed  the  whole  evening,  seemed  to  have  made  little  diminu 
tion  in  the  crowds  who  were  present.  We  refer  especially  to 
the  ladies,  who  were  drawn  there  in  large  numbers  by  the  desire 
of  seeing  the  honored  statesman  of  Ashland,  who  had  consented 
to  attend,  principally  with  the  desire  of  gratifying  his  fair  coun 
trywomen. 

The  theatre  was  splendidly  illuminated,  and  the  stage  hung 
with  gorgeous  drapery,  representing  the  American  colors.     Mr 
Clay  entered  about  nine  o'clock,  in  company  with  Ex-President 
Van  Buren,  and  escorted  by  the  common  council.     He  was  re 
ceived  with  three  cheers,  and  immediately  the  company  formed 
into  double  lines,  extending  the  whole  length  of  the  stage,  down 
which  the  distinguished  guests  walked,  greeted  most  enthusi 
astically  at  every  point,  and  finally  took  their  station  at  the  farther 
end,  where  the  ladies  crowded  at  once  to  take  them  by  the  hand. 


LEVEE    AT    THE    CIT1-HALL.  313 

Mr.  Clay  seemed  in  excellent  spirits  ;  his  fine  eye  sparkled  with 
kindly  feeling,  and  the  dense  throng  which  gathered  around,  dis 
played  the  most  marked  reverence  and  attachment  toward  him. 

The  next  morning,  Friday,  having  been  appointed  for  the  citi 
zens  of  New  York  to  pay  their  personal  respects  to  Mr.  Clay,  he 
reached  the  city-hall  with  his  honor  the  mayor  and  the  members 
of  the  committee  of  reception,  at  about  eleven  o'clock.  A  great 
number  of  gentlemen  were  there  collected,  waiting  for  his  arrival ; 
they  received  him  with  the  usual  manifestations.  As  soon  as  the 
doors  of  the  governor's  room  were  thrown  open,  the  crowd  began 
to  pour  through  them  :  and  a  steady  stream  of  persons,  eager  to 
exchange  salutations  with  the  illustrious  visiter,  occupied  all  the 
avenues  to  the  place.  It  was  impossible  to  obtain  admission,  ex 
cept  by  taking  a  place  in  the  mass  and  moving  with  it  gradually 
up  the  stairs  toward  the  door  ;  and  the  number  of  persons  was 
so  great,  that  it  must  have  required  nearly  an  hour  for  a  single 
individual  to  reach  the  governor's  room. 

In  order  that  the  thousands  who  had  collected  outside,  finding 
it  utterly  impossible  to  effect  an  entrance,  might  not  be  disap 
pointed  in  their  wish  to  see  him,  Mr.  Clay  appeared  on  the  bal 
cony  at  the  close  of  his  levee.  After  the  enthusiastic  cheering 
with  which  he  was  received  had  subsided,  Mr.  Clay  said  he  had 
come  here  with  the  expectation  of  shaking  all  his  friends  by  the 
hand ;  he  had  been  undergoing  that  operation  for  the  last  three 
hours  —  indeed,  ever  since  he  had  been  in  the  city.  Instead  of 
working  twelve  hours,  even  if  he  had  worked  twenty-four  hours 
a  day,  it  would  not  have  sufficed  ;  and  as  he  had  given  all  that 
were  in  the  inside  of  the  building  his  hand,  he  now  gave  all  on 
the  outside  his  heart ! 

On  Saturday  morning,  Mr.  Clay  received  the  ladies  of  New 
York  at  the  same  place,  and  many  thousands  were  present.  Mr, 
Clay  arrived  at  the  appointed  hour,  and  was  received  with  all  the 
honors  by  the  mass  of  gentlemen  and  ladies  assembled  at  the  city- 
hall.  The  business  of  reception  commenced  immediately,  Mr. 
Clay  shaking  hands  and  exchanging  a  pleasant  word  with  all,  re 
ceiving  warmer  tributes  from  some,  and  now  and  then  carrying 
his  politeness  so  far  as  to  yield  a  lock  of  hair  to  the  longing  scis 
sors  of  some  patriotic  matron.  The  ceremony  was  continued  till 
Bf 


314  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

after  the  appointed  hour,  when  Mr.  Clay  was  compelled  to  retire, 
although  many  ladies  had  not  yet  enjoyed  the  pleasure  of  an  in 
terview. 

On  Saturday  afternoon,  Mr.  Clay  visited  the  High  Bridge,  in 
company  with  several  members  of  the  common  council,  and  was 
highly  gratified  with  that  magnificent  work.  He  returned  to  the 
city,  ana  was  entertained  at  dinner  by  J.  Phillips  Phcenix,  Esq., 
after  which  he  attended  the  performance  of  the  oratorio  of  the 
"  Creation,"  by  the  Sacred  Music  society.  He  was  there  much 
more  an  object  of  attention  to  the  audience  than  the  music,  and 
in  the  course  of  the  evening,  briefly  and  felicitously  replied  to  an 
address  from  the  ladies  of  the  society. 

On  Sunday  morning,  Mr.  Clay  attended  St.  Bartholomew's 
church,  with  his  honor  the  mayor,  where  an  unusually  large  con 
gregation  was  assembled.  On  the  way  thither,  he  was  met  by  a 
large  number  of  Irishmen,  who  thus  sought  the  opportunity  of 
quietly  expressing  to  him  the  warm  feelings  which  his  efforts  in 
behalf  of  Ireland  have  roused  in  the  breasts  of  all  her  sons. 

On  Monday  morning  (says  the  Tribune)  a  large  assemblage 
was  collected  at  the  New  Jersey  railroad-office,  foot  of  Liberty 
street,  to  witness  the  departure  of  Mr.  Clay.  A  little  past  nine 
o'clock,  he  arrived  in  a  carriage  with  his  honor  the  mayor  and 
the  committee  of  reception,  and  was  received  with  loud  cheers 
by  the  multitude,  who  not  only  occupied  the  street,  but  the  roofs 
of  the  buildings  about  the  railroad-office,  all  eager  to  obtain  a 
view  of  him.  Just  before  the  ferry-boat  arrived  at  the  wharf, 
Mr.  Clay  came  forward,  and  bowed  his  farewell  to  the  people, 
who  returned  it  with  cheers,  after  which  he  took  his  seat  again 
in  the  carriage,  and  was  driven  on  board  the  boat.  As  the  boat 
put  off,  the  assemblage  again  cheered  loudly,  and  so  the  visit  of 
the  veteran  and  adored  statesman  to  the  commercial  metropolis 
was  ended. 

The  committee  accompanied  Mr.  Clay  to  Newark,  where  they 
resigned  him  to  the  authorities  of  that  place.  He  was  welcomed 
there  with  the  utmost  enthusiasm,  and  after  spending  a  short  time, 
went  on  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  remained  a  day  privately,  and 
then  returned  home  by  way  of  Baltimore.  The  Tribune,  in  speak 
ing  of  his  visit  to  New  York,  says  :  "  Mr.  Clay  has  been  with  us 


HIS    PRIVATE    AND    PERSONAL    HISTORY.  315 

five  days,  and  through  the  whole  time  has  received  such  tokens 
of  deep  respect  and  enthusiastic  attachment,  as  no  man  but  him 
self  could  have  elicited.  We  now  see  how  firmly  he  stands  in 
the  affections,  not  of  a  few  persons,  or  of  any  particular  class, 
but  of  the  whole  people.  If  there  were  any  doubt  before,  the 
fact  is  now  undeniable,  that  no  man  lives  who  is  so  truly  beloved 
revered,  and  trusted,  by  the  people  of  this  city,  as  Henry  Clay/? 


XXIX. 

MR,    CLAY    AS    A    LAWYER    AND    AS    A    MAN. 

OF  such  paramount  interest  have  been  the  details  of  Mr.  Clay's 
public  career,  that  we  have  but  little  room  to  bestow  upon  his 
private  and  professional  history,  honorable  as  it  has  been  to  him. 
We  have  alluded  to  his  early  successes  at  the  bar,  but  space  fails 
us  in  the  attempt  to  supply  even  an  imperfect  sketch  of  his 
numerous  triumphant  efforts  in  the  sphere  of  his  profession — 
efforts  which  have  not  failed  in  brilliancy  and  success  with  the 
arrival  of  his  threescore  and  tenth  year. 

Owing  to  the  more  popular  character  of  his  political  labors,  he 
has  not  enjoyed,  out  of  the  boundary  of  the  supreme  court,  half 
the  reputation  which  was  his  due  as  a  jurist  of  extensive  attain 
ments  and  profound  ability.  But  the  writer  has  been  assured  by 
the  late  Mr.  Justice  Story,  that  Mr.  Clay  was  regarded  by  Chief- 
Justice  Marshall  as  second  in  these  respects  to  no  lawyer  in  the 
country.  His  arguments  always  evinced  great  reflection,  and 
oftentimes  extensive  legal  erudition  ;  and  his  appeals  were  of  that 
generous  and  elevated  character,  which  rejects  every  aid  of  a 
narrow  or  pettifogging  cast.  We  must  content  ourselves  with  a 
mere  reference  to  this  department  of  Mr.  Clay's  history  ;  referring 
the  reader,  for  information  in  regard  to  it,  to  the  reports  and  rec 
ords  of  the  United  States  courts  and  the  courts  of  Kentucky. 

Mr.  Clay  is  now  (1848)  in  his  seventy-first  year,  and,  notwith 
standing  his  varied  and  arduous  labors,  tasking  his  mental  and 
physical  powers  to  an  extraordinary  degree,  and  the  several  pe- 


316  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

nods  of  dangerous  illness  to  which  he  has  been  subject,  he  bears 
in  his  personal  appearance  the  promise  of  a  vigorous,  healthful, 
and  protracted  old  age.  In  stature,  he  is  tall,  sinewy,  erect,  and 
commanding,  with  finely-formed  limbs,  and  a  frame  capable  of 
much  endurance.  From  his  features,  you  might  at  first  infer  that 
he  was  a  hardy  backwoodsman,  who  had  been  accustomed  rather 
to  the  privations  and  trials  of  a  frontier  life,  than  to  the  arena  of 
debate  and  the  diplomatic  table.  But  when  you  meet  his  full, 
clear  gray  eye,  you  see  in  its  flashes  the  conscious  power  of  a 
well-trained  and  panoplied  intellect,  as  well  as  the  glance  of  an 
intrepid  soul.  Its  lustre  gives  animation  to  the  whole  counte 
nance,  and  its  varying  expression  faithfully  interprets  the  emotions 
and  sentiments  of  the  orator.  Much  of  the  charm  of  his  speak 
ing  lies  in  his  clear,  rotund,  and  indescribably  melodious  voice, 
which  is  of  wide  compass,  and  as  distinct  in  its  low  as  in  its  high 
tones.  The  effect  of  it,  when  a  passion  is  to  be  portrayed,  or  a 
feeling  of  pathos  aroused,  is  like  that  of  a  rich  instrument  upon 
the  ear. 

Nothing  could  be  more  felicitous  than  Mr.  Clay's  personal 
manners  and  address.  They  convey  to  every  one  the  conviction 
that  he  is  a  true  man  — that  there  is  no  sham  about  him  and  his 
professions.  Frank,  affable,  natural,  and  communicative,  he  was, 
without  assumption,  as  much  at  home  among  European  potentates 
as  among  his  own  constituents  at  a  barbecue.  His  perfect  self- 
possession  and  repose  of  manner  spring,  not  so  much  from  long 
intercourse  with  the  world  and  with  society,  as  from  that  indi 
genous  democratic  instinct,  that  true  nobleness  of  character, 
which  looks  unaffectedly  to  the  inward  man  solely,  and  not  to  the 
outside  insignia  with  which  he  may  be  decorated. 

Never  was  public  man  so  personally  popular  in  the  United 
States.  "  The  true  source  of  his  extraordinary  influence,"  says 
a  writer  of  the  day,  "  is  to  be  found  in  that  most  potent  of  all 
human  influences,  a  true  and  ready  sympathy.  There  are  no 
barriers  between  his  heart  and  the  hearts  of  others.  Bring  them 
tin  contact,  and  the  efflux  of  his  kindly  feeling  is  instantaneous 
Instead  of  sullenly  wrapping  himself  in  the  thoughts  of  self,  he 
thinks  of  others.  His  thoughts  become  their  thoughts,  and  their 
thoughts  become  his  thoughts.  An  interchange  of  kindly  feeling 


HIS    INTEGRITY.  3l7 

becomes  spontaneous  and  immediate.  Mr.  Clay  is  not  only  a 
strong  man  in  himself,  but  he  possesses  the  ability  to  command 
and  carry  with  him  all  human  agencies  and  influences  which 
come  within  the  sphere  of  his  action." 

In  his  integrity  and  uprightness  of  character,  no  one  who  was 
ever  brought  in  contact  with  him,  could  fail  to  place  the  most  im 
plicit  reliance.  "  He  is  an  honest  man,"  says  one,  who  knows 
him  well ;  "  he  is  a  fair-dealing  man  ;  he  is  a  true  man  ;  he  is  a 
man  who  believes  in  his  own  principles,  who  follows  his  own 
convictions,  who  avows  his  own  sentiments  and  acts  on  them, 
who  never  deserted  a  friend,  who  was  never  deterred  from  his 
purpose,  who  was  never  seduced  from  what  he  undertook  to  do 
He  is  a  man  of  faith,  in  the  largest  sense  of  that  word.  No  man 
has  ever  been  more  severely  tried  in  public  life  in  this  country  ; 
and  no  man  ever  exhibited  a  more  sublime  manhood  in  all  his 
great  and  repeated  exhibitions  of  that  noblest  of  all  qualities  in  a 
public  man — trustworthiness.  The  nation  may  rely  on  him  that 
he  is  what  he  is,  and  that  he  will  do  what  he  says  he  will  do." 

"  In  our  opinion,  the  most  remarkable  mental  endowment  of 
Mr.  Clay  is  his  common  sense.  He  is  the  most  sagacious  public 
man  this  country  has  produced,  except  Benjamin  Franklin.  His 
knowledge  of  affairs  seems  rather  intuitive  than  the  result  of  ex 
perience.  We  have  heard  him  deliver  some  of  his  greatest 
speeches.  We  have  read  them  all.  His  fame  as  an  orator  is 
world- wide.  But  what  is  the  oratory  of  those  great  discourses  1 
No  flowers  of  rhetoric  adorn  them ;  no  vast  fund  of  acquired 
erudition  enriches  them.  Mr.  Clay  hardly  ever  quotes  from  books. 
No  elaborate  argumentation.  What  then  ?  The  grandeur  of  an 
intellect  that  seems  to  perceive  truth  intuitively,  united  to  a  pathos 
as  fervent  as  that  of  Demosthenes  :  this  is  the  man,  full  of  spirit, 
full  of  sense." 

Among  the  eminent  persons  who  have  borne  testimony  to  those 
qualities  which  qualify  Mi.  Clay  so  worthily  for  the  highest  office 
in  the  gift  of  the  American  people,  is  the  late  Col.  Richard  M. 
Johnson  of  Kentucky.  We  are  indebted  to  the  Richmond  Whig 
for  the  following  anecdote  :  — 

"  On  the  30th  of  September  last,  Col.  Johnson  being  in  Staunton,  Virginia, 
a  number  of  gentlemen  paid  him  the  respect  of  calling  to  see  him.  One  cf 


318  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

the  company  remarked  to  him,  'Colonel,  when  you  reach  the  railroad 
junction,  you  will  be  near  the  Slashes  of  Hanover'  The  honest  old  war 
rior's  face  immediately  lighted  up  with  an  expression  of  sincerity  and  pleas 
ure,  and  he  eloquently  said:  '  I  shall  be  delighted  to  see  that  place.  Every 
spot  of  ground  Henry  Clay  touches  he  immortalizes.  I  have  been  in  public 
life  for  forty  years,  and  in  that  time  have  been  associated  with  all  the  great 
men  of  the  country.  Leaving  out  Madison  and  Gallatin,  who  were  old  men. 
when  I  first  stepped  upon  the  theatre  of  politics,  I  will  place  Jefferson  first, 
hen  HENRY  CLAY.  He  is  a  perfect  Hercules  in  all  the  qualities  than  can 
adorn  human  nature.  Some  men  may  excel  him  in  a  single  quality — for  in 
stance,  Webster  may  be  a  greater  logician;  or  some  may  be  more  renowned 
for  deep  research;  but  take  Clay  all  in  all,  he  has  not  an  equal  in  the  Union, 
in  either  the  north  or  south,  the  east  or  the  west.  In  moral  courage,  in 
physical  courage,  in  oratory,  in  patriotism,  and  in  every  noble  quality,  he  is 
without  a  superior.  I  have  been  associated  with  him  on  committees  in  con 
nection  with  Calhoun,  Lowndes,  Cheves,  Webster,  and  other  distinguished 
individuals,  but  Clay  was  always  the  master-spirit.  We  looked  up  to  him 
as  the  Ajax  Telamon  ;  and  by  his  counsel  we  were  guided  in  our  delibera 
tions.  If  the  rest  of  the  committee  assembled  before  him,  and  were  in  doubt 
how  to  proceed,  when  he  made  his  appearance,  all  eyes  were  turned  upon 
him — and  we  were  certain  to  be  right  when  we  followed  his  opinion.  He 
is  a  great  man — a  very  great  man !'" 

As  a  writer,  Mr.  Clay  will  creditably  compare  with  any  of  the 
public  men  of  the  day.  *  His  style  is  singularly  perspicuous, 
simple,  forcible,  and  correct,  evincing  a  preference  for  good  old 
Saxon  words  over  those  derived  from  the  Latin  and  Greek  lan 
guages.  In  this  respect  it  is  perfectly  Addisonian.  His  in 
structions  to  the  ministers  sent  to  the  Congress  of  Panama,  his 
land  report  of  1832,  his  report  on  the  differences  with  France, 
and  numerous  documents  which  emanated  from  his  pen  while  he 
was  at  the  head  of  the  department  of  state,  may  be  referred  to, 
not  only  as  papers  evincing  masterly  statesmanship,  but  as  ex 
cellent  specimens  of  English  undefiled. 

In  his  tastes  and  habits  of  life,  Mr.  Clay  is  remarkably  simple 
and  unostentatious.  He  is  an  early  riser,  and  methodical  and  in 
dustrious  in  the  disposition  of  his  time.  His  punctuality  is  pro 
verbial.  He  is  quite  ^as  noted  as  Washington  was  for  this  good 
quality  ;  which  we  generally  find  in  the  greatest  perfection  with 
those  who  have  the  greatest  consideration  for  others. 

In  April,  1799,  about  a  year  and  a  half  after  Mr.  Clay  removed 
to  Kentucky,  he  married  Lucretia  Hart,  daughter  of  Colonel  Hart, 
a  highly  respectable  gentleman  of  Lexington.  Another  daughter 
was  married  to  James  Brown,  Esq.,  afterward  minister  to  France 
under  Messrs  Mwiroe  and  J.  Q.  Adams.  Mrs.  Clay  was  born 


HIS    FAMILY.  319 

in  1781,  at  Hagerstown,  Maryland,  being  four  years  younger  than 
her  husband.  They  have  had  eleven  children,  six  daughters  and 
five  sons,  and  a  larger  number  of  grandchildren.  Four  of  the 
daughters  died  young.  Susan  Hart,  then  Mrs.  Duralde,  of  New 
Orleans,  died  at  the  age  of  twenty.  Ann  Brown  Clay,  born  in 
1807,  married  James  Erwine,  Esq.,  of  New  Orleans  ;  and  is  said 
to  have  borne  a  great  resemblance  to  her  father  in  her  captivating 
social,  and  intellectual  qualities.  She  died  in  1835,  the  last  of 
the  six.  The  news  of  her  death  so  affected  Mr.  Clay,  that  he 
fainted  on  receiving  the  communication.  The  affliction  of  the 
bereavement  was  most  bitter. 

Theodore  Wythe  Clay,  the  eldest  son,  was  born  in  1802.  In 
consequence  of  an  accidental  injury,  he  became  deranged,  and 
has  been  for  many  years  the  inmate  of  an  insane  retreat.  Thomas 
Hart  Clay,  the  second  son,  born  in  1803,  is  married  and  has  3 
family.  He  is  engaged  chiefly  in  the  manufacture  of  hemp 
Henry  Clay,  Jr.,  born  in  1811,  fell  at  Buena- Vista,  gallantly 
leading  his  men,  February,  1847.  James  B.  Clay,  born  in  1817, 
is  married  and  in  the  practice  of  the  law  at  Lexington.  John 
M.  Clay,  the  youngest  of  the  family,  born  in  1821,  has  also  been 
educated  for  the  legal  profession. 

The  virtues  of  Mrs.  Clay,  though  of  the  unobtrusive  kind,  are 
not  the  less  admirable  and  deserving.  Her  benevolence,  her  in 
dustry,  her  studious  attention  to  her  household  and  her  guests, 
have  been  the  theme  of  eulogy  with  all  who  have  visited  Ashland. 
When  General  Bertrand,  the  faithful  friend  of  Napoleon,  was 
there,  he  was  much  astonished  at  the  extent  and  variety  of  the 
duties  discharged  with  so  much  activity  and  system  by  Mrs.  Clay. 
Her  dairy,  garden,  greenhouse,  pleasure-grounds,  and  the  opera 
tions  of  a  farm  of  between  five  and  six  hundred  acres,  were  all 
under  her  vigilant  and  comprehensive  supervision. 

In  his  domestic  and  social  relations,  no  man  could  be  more 
strictly  honorable  and  blameless  than  Mr.  Clay.  The  charge 
has  been  brought  against  him  by  his  enemies,  of  having  visited 
the  gaming-table.  It  is  admitted  that,  in  early  life,  Mr.  Clay  had 
a  fondness  for  play — not  for  the  sake  of  the  money  sported,  but 
for  the  company  and  the  excitement.  He  has  never  played  at 
a  public  table  or  at  gambling-houses.  For  upward  of  thirty  years 


320  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

he  has  not  played  at  any  game  of  hazard.  Never  to  his  knowledge 
has  a  pack  of  cards  been  seen  at  Ashland.  We  mention  these 
facts,  not  that  we  suppose  that  Mr.  Clay  objects  to  the  recreation 
of  cards,  where  nothing  is  staked,  but  because  the  grossest  mis 
representations  and  the  most  exaggerated  stories  in  regard  to  him, 
in  connection  with  this  subject,  have  been  made  current  by  his 
enemies.  We  have  fairly  stated  the  head  and  front  of  his  offend 
ing.  Many  instances  of  the  justice  and  magnanimity  which  he 
carries  into  all  transactions  of  a  pecuniary  nature  might  be  men 
tioned  ;  but  we  forbear. 

It  is  with  Mr.  Clay's  public  history  that  we  have  mainly  to 
deal.  The  legislative  annals  of  the  nation  are  the  sources  from 
which  it  may  be  derived.  There  it  stands  amply  and  immutably 
recorded,  through  a  period  of  more  than  forty  years.  From  those 
magnificent  quarries  of  the  past,  the  materials  will  be  drawn  for 
a  monument  more  perennial  than  marble  or  brass.  Never  were 
the  views  of  a  public  man  upon  all  questions  of  public  policy 
more  ingenuously  and  unequivocally  expressed — more  clearly 
and  broadly  defined.  On  no  one  point  is  there  an  indication  of 
shuffling — of  a  disposition  to  evade  or  defer  the  responsibility 
of  uttering  an  opinion.  In  contemplating  his  career,  we  are  often 
reminded  of  these  lines  by  the  author  of  "  Philip  Van  Arte- 
velde  :" 

"All  my  life  long 

I  have  beheld  with  most  respect  the  man 
"Who  knew  himself  and  knew  the  ways  before  him, 
And  from  among  them  chose  considerately, 
With  a  clear  foresight,  not  a  blindfold  courage, 
And,  having  chosen,  with  a  steadfast  mind 
Pursued  his  purposes." 

Such  a  man  is  Henry  Clay !  And  in  no  one  public  act  of  his 
life  does  he  seem  to  have  been  actuated  by  other  than  pure  and 
patriotic  motives.  "  I  WOULD  RATHER  BE  RIGHT  THAN  BE  PRES 
IDENT."  In  that  expression  we  have  a  key  to  his  conduct  from 
the  moment  he  first  entered  the  national  councils  ;  and  in  that 
expression,  we  have  an  earnest  of  the  single-heartedness  of  pur 
pose  with  which  the  affairs  of  the  country  would  be  conducted 
under  his  administration.  But  the  presidency  could  not  add  to 


HIS    NAME    AND    HIS    FAME.  331 

his  fame.  The  wonder  of  the  wise  and  the  good  that  he  was  not 
president,  would  speak  louder  in  his  behalf,  and  be  a  proudei 
iribute  to  his  worth,  than  their  exultation  at  his  success.  The 
absence  of  his  bust  from  the  triumph,  will  be  more  noted  than  its 
presence  could  ever  be. 

Whatever  the  I*  uture  may  have  in  store,  "  the  Past  is  secure  ' 
His  name  lives  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  His  fame  is 
incorporate  with  the  history  of  the  republic.  May  they  both  be 
blended  with  the  highest  honor  which  a  free  people  can  bestow ! 

NEW  YORK,  May,  1848.    * 


21 


322  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

•t 

XXX.* 

THE    PRESIDENTIAL    CONTEST    OF    1848. 

MR.  CLAY'S  name,  in  connection  with  the  Presidency,  was 
again  presented  to  the  Whig  National  Convention  which  met  at 
Philadelphia,  in  June,  1848.  It  is  due  to  his  unchanging  friends 
that  the  grounds  on  which  they  urged  his  nomination  at  this 
time  should  be  fairly  set  forth. 

There  is  a  sense  in  which  Mr.  Clay  was  not,  and  for  more 
than  twenty  years  had  not  been,  a  popular  man.  His  name  was 
not  calculated  to  draw  to  the  standard  on  which  it  was  inscribed 
that  large  class  who  are  habitually  spoken  of  as  "  the  floating 
vote  ;"  and  who  incline  to  this  party  or  that  from  no  regard  to  the 
principles  it  advocates,  or  the  measures  it  supports,  but  simply 
or  mainly  from  personal  admiration  of  its  leading  candidate  or 
exultation  over  his  achievements.  On  the  contrary,  the  Whig 
party,  in  presenting  Mr.  Clay  for  President,  must  count  on  the 
support  of  those  only  whose  intelligent  convictions  had  impelled 
them  to  regard  with  favor  its  distinctive  objects — its  leading 
aims  and  aspirations. 

But  with  all,  or  nearly  all,  those  who  did  cherish  this  sym 
pathy,  Mr.  Clay  was  not  only  popular,  but  decidedly  the  most 
popular  candidate  that  could  be  selected ;  he  was  the  very  man, 
confessedly,  whom  nine-tenths  of  the  Whigs  of  the  whole  Union 
preferred  to  all  other  men  for  President.  His  Genius,  his 
Talents,  his  Eloquence,  his  Patriotism,  and,  in  the  better  sense, 
his  popularity,  had  for  twenty  years  rendered  him  the  practical 
and  conceded  champion  and  master-spirit  of  the  Whig  party,  of 
which  he  might  without  extravagance  have  been  termed  the 
creating  life,  the  animating  soul.  If  the  question  had  been, 
"  Whom  do  the  Whigs  desire  to  elect  President  ?"  it  was  already 
most  emphatically  decided.  No  one  pretended  to  doubt  that  the 
first  choice  of  an  immense  majority  of  the  Whigs  was  Henry 
Clay. 

*  For  this  chapter,  and  all  that  follows  it,  the  reader  wil.  hold  the  Editor  solely  respon 
sible 


ELECTION    OF  POLK,    HOW    EFFECTED.  323 

The  first  question,  then,  for  practical  consideration  waa  this  — 
Can  Mr.  Clay  be  elected  ?  Is  the  Whig  party  strong  enough, 
in  and  of  itself,  to  nominate  the  man  of  its  choice  wi^i  a  reason 
able  probability  of  electing  him  ? 

Mr.  Clay,  it  was  notorious,  had  been  repeatedly  beaten ;  but 
only  once  when  he  was  sustained  by  the  full  strength  of  the 
Whig  party.  The  scrub  race  of  1824  had  only  demonstrated 
one  thing — the  hostility  of  the  people  to  the  abuses  and  corrup 
tions  of  congressional  caucuses.  All  beyond  this  was  accidental 
— fortuitous.  In  1832,  the  Anti- Jackson  strength  was  divided 
by  Anti-Masonry,  which  abstracted  from  Mr.  Clay  the  votes  of 
several  States  which  he  would  otherwise  have  carried.  And  in 
1844,  Mr.  Clay  was  barely  beaten  by  the  Kane  Letter  swindle 
in  Pennsylvania,  whereby  a  large  body  of  voters  were  carried 
against  him  by  the  preposterously  false  and  impudent,  but  never 
theless  successful,  assumption  that  Mr.  Polk  was  the  better  Pro 
tectionist  of  the  two,  and  were  drawn  to  swell  the  vote  of  the 
latter  under  banners  inscribed  "  Polk,  Dallas,  and  the  Tariff 
of  '42" — by  the  terrors  of  Nativism  which  had  been  infused 
into  the  great  body  of  our  adopted  citizens  by  the  Church-burn 
ing  and  other  acts  of  violence  committed  in  Philadelphia,  in  the 
spring  and  early  summer  of  that  year — by  the  audacious  and 
persistent  assertion  of  Birney  and  Co.  that  the  Annexation  of 
Texas  was  as  much  favored  by  Mr.  Clay  as  by  Mr.  Polk,  and 
more  likely  to  be  effected  by  the  former,  because  of  his  far  greater 
ability  and  influence  —  and  by  the  atrocious  frauds  and  illegal 
votings,  whereof  the  Plaquemine  canvass  fa  Louisiana  afforded 
the  most  conspicuous  illustration.  That  a  majority  of  the  lega. 
voters  of  New- York  and  Louisiana  cast  their  ballots  for  Mr 
Clay,  in  1844,  is  morally,  though  not  legally,  demonstrable.  That 
a  majority  of  those  of  Pennsylvania  would  have  done  so  had  they 
not  been  deceived  and  misled,  is  also  palpable.  The  votes  of 
these  States,  added  to  those  actually  thrown  for  Mr.  Clay,  would 
have  given  him  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  entire  Electoral  body, 
and  rendered  his  election  more  triumphant  than  was  that  of  Mr. 
Polk.  Yet  in  no  canvass  were  Whig  principles  ever  more 
plainly  and  thoroughly  proclaimed,  nor  more  absolutely  relied 
on,  than  in  that  of  1844,  by  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Glair 


324  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

The  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  in  1848  argued  thus  — New- York, 
which  alone  defeated  us  in  '44,  is  now  for  us  heartily  and  relia 
bly  ;  she  ifeas  been  carried  by  the  Whigs  in  the  last  two  elec 
tions —  in  that  of  '47  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  She  has 
elected  a  delegation  almost  unanimously  for  Mr.  Clay,  and  she 
tells  us  officially  and  otherwise  that  her  vote  is  more  certain  for 
him  than  for  any  other  Whig.  Now  admit  that  we  may  lose 
some  one  or  more  of  the  Eleven  States  which  voted  for  Mr.  Clay 
in  '44,  we  insist  that  there  is  at  least  as  much  probability  that 
we  shall  carry  Pennsylvania,  Louisiana,  and  some  other  of  the 
States  which  then  voted  for  Mr.  Polk,  leaving  New-York  as 
clear  and  absolute  gain,  which  is  as  much  as  we  actually  need. 
Since,  then,  it  is  conceded  that  Mr.  Clay  is  the  first  choice  of 
nearly  all  Whigs,  and  is  demonstrable  that  he  could  pretty  cer 
tainly  be  elected,  we  insist  that  he  and  no  other  is  the  man  who 
ought  to  be  nominated. 

But  the  friends  of  Mr.  Clay  cherished  serious  objections,  more 
over,  to  the  support  of  General  Taylor,  his  leading  competitor 
for  the  nomination,  in  view  of  the  circumstances  under  which 
his  name  was  presented.  That  General  Taylor  was  an  honest, 
brave,  humane  patriot  and  soldier,  they  were  not  inclined  to 
doubt ;  but  his  life  had  been  mainly  spent  in  camps  and  forts 
on  the  frontier  at  or  beyond  the  outskirts  of  civilization ;  so  that 
he  was  confessedly  ignorant,  to  a  remarkable  degree,  of  the 
great  questions  of  public  policy  which  for  a  generation  had  con 
vulsed  the  country.  He  had  never  voted  at  any  election,  and  no 
one  could  say  when  or  where,  prior  to  the  suggestion  of  his 
name  for  the  Presidency,  he  had  evinced  any  decided  interest 
in,  or  even  familiarity  with,  those  great  beneficent  principles  and 
measures  for  which  the  Whigs  had  so  patiently  and  resolutely 
struggled.  To  nominate  him  for  President,  therefore,  in  view 
of  his  no-party  professions  and  the  corresponding  impulses 
which  first  designated  him  as  a  candidate,  seemed  to  many  of 
fhe  Old  Guard  like  abandoning  the  great  purposes  of  our  organ 
ization  as  a  party,  and  advertising  the  world  that  we  cared  more 
for  grasping  the  offices  than  for  advancing  our  principles.  Such 
considerations  made  the  thought  of  surrendering  Mr.  Clay  for 
any  other  candidate,  but  especially  General  Taylor,  exceedingly 


PHILADELPHIA    NATIONAL    CONVENTION.  325 

distasteful  to  a  large  proportion  of  the  most  zealous,  intelligent;, 
and  devoted  Whigs. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  urged  —  True,  General  Taylor  is 
not  a  Statesman  of  the  same  grade  with  Mr.  Clay ;  but  he  is  an 
honest,  patriotic  Whig,  who  will  hear  and  heed  advice  from  all 
those  whom  a  Whig  President  should  heed — he  is  eminently  a 
man  of  strong  common  sense,  of  popular  sympathies,  of  liberal 
views,  and  immensely  popular  with  all  those  who  are  but  loosely 
or  not  at  all  attached  to  any  party.  He  is  already  the  declared 
and  accepted  candidate  of  these  ;  his  nomination  will  be  gener 
ally  hailed  as  an  omen  and  forerunner  of  triumph ;  and  his  elec 
tion  will  do  much  to  calm  the  effervescence  and  assuage  the 
bitterness  of  party  spirit,  restoring,  in  good  degree,  the  golden 
eras  of  Washington  and  Monroe. 

These  considerations  ultimately  prevailed.  Indeed,  it  seems 
probable,  in  view  of  all  the  facts,  that  a  majority  of  all  the  dele 
gates  went  to  Philadelphia  expecting,  if  not  absolutely  desiring, 
General  Taylor's  nomination,  though  prevented  by  instructions 
arid  previous  committals,  if  not  by  the  strong  repugnance  of  their 
immediate  constituents,  from  immediately  voting  to  produce  it. 

It  is  not  likely  that  anything  within  the  scope  of  human  effort 
could  have  changed  the  result,  yet  the  unwise  and  untimely  ap 
pearance  in  Philadelphia,  just  as  the  Whig  Convention  was 
assembling,  of  General  Cass,  the  antagonist  nominee,  with  sev 
eral  of  his  leading  advocates,  did  much  to  hasten  it.  The 
speeches  made  from  hotel  steps  and  windows  by  these  gentle 
men  were  of  a  peculiarly  acrimonious  and  exasperating  charac 
ter,  and,  being  addressed  mainly  to  Whig  auditors,  tended  to 
excite  in  their  minds  a  most  intense  and  overmastering  desire 
for  success  at  all  hazards  in  resentment  of  this  insolent  and  irri 
tating  irruption.  And,*as  the  local  sentiment  at  Philadelphia, 
corroborating  the  indications  of  the  political  barometer  at  Wash 
ington,  pointed  strongly  to  General  Taylor  as  the  man  with 
whom  success  was  most  certain,  their  effect  on  the  nomination 
was  very  perceptible  ;  and  when  Kentucky  had  been  called 
through  on  the  first  ballot  for  President,  and  had  given  a  major 
ity  of  her  votes  for  General  Taylor  over  her  own  illustrious 
Statesman,  in  whose  support  she  had  never  before  wavered,  it 


326  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

was  manifest  to  all  but  the  most  devoted  and  uncompromising 
supporters  of  Mr.  Clay  that  no  hope  of  his  nomination  remained. 
The  Convention  had  been  organized  by  the  choice  of  Governor 
John  M.  Morehead,  of  North  Carolina,  as  President,  with  the 
usual  complement  of  Vice-Presidents  and  Secretaries,  and  the 
following  was  the  declared  result  of  its  several  ballotings  : — 
First  Ballot. 

States.  Taylor.        Clay.         Scott.    Webster.    Clayton.    M'Lean, 

Maine 5  1  —  3  —  — 

New  Hampshire —  —  —  6  —  — 

Vermont 1  6  —  —  —  — 

Massachusetts —  —  —  12  —  

Rhode  Island —  4  —  —  —  — 

Connecticut —  6  —  —  —  

New  York —  29  6  1  1  — 

New  Jersey 3  4  —  —  —  — 

Pennsylvania 8  12  6  —  —  — 

Delaware —  —  —  —  3  — 

Maryland —  8  —  —  —  — 

Virginia 15  2  —  —  —  — 

North  Carolina 6  5  —  —  —  — 

South  Carolina 1  1  —  —  —  — 

Georgia 10  —  —  —  —  — 

Alabama 6  1  —  —  —  — 

Mississippi 6  —  —  —  —  — 

Louisiana 5  1  —  —  —  — 

Ohio 1  1  20  —  —           1 

Kentucky 7  6  —  —  —  — 

Tennessee 13  —  —  —        

Indiana 1  2  9  —  —  — 

Illinois, 4  3  —  —         

Missouri 7  —  —  —  —  — 

Arkansas 3  —  —  —  —  — 

Michigan —  3  2  —  —  — 

Texas 3*  —  —  —  —  _ 

Florida 3  —  —  —        

Wisconsin 1  3  —  —  —           1 

Iowa 2  1  1  —  — .  — 

Total Ill        97        43        22          4          2 

Total  279.     No  choice. 

Second  Ballot 

Taylor.. 118     Clay.. 86     Scott.  .49     Webster.  .22    Clayton.  .4. 
No  choice  again.     Adjourned  to  next  morning. 

Third  Ballot. 
Taylor..  133     Clay.  .74     Scott.  .54     Webster..  17     Clayton..  L 

Fourth  Ballot. 

Taylor..  171     Clay..  32     Scott.  .63     Webster..  14 
Taylor  over  all..  52. 

*  Cast  by  the  Louisiana  delegation,  under  instruction*. 


NOMINATION    OF    GENERAL    TAYLOR.  327 

Whereupon  General  ZACHARY  TAYLOR  was  declared  the 
Whig  candidate  for  President. 

It  was  made  a  subject  of  reproach  to  Mr.  Clay,  throughout  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  canvass  which  succeeded,  that  he  did  not 
jput,  forth  and  exert  his  great  personal  influence  in  behalf  of 
General  Taylor,  and  especially  to  soothe  the  feeling  of  profound 
dissatisfaction  which  the  preference  of  the  latter  had  excited. 

ooking  only  to  his  own  popularity  and  position,  it  would  prob 
ably  have  been  well  for  him  to  do  what  had  been  desired  of  him 
by  the  friends  of  General  Taylor.  Yet  it  is  but  fair  to  consider 
that  the  nomination  of  General  Taylor  had  been  made  on  grounds 
expressly  and  peculiarly  derogatory  to  Mr.  Clay's  standing  in 
the  party  and  grating  to  his  feelings  —  on  the  ground,  namely, 
that  long  and  efficient  service  in  the  foremost  ranks  of  the  party 
and  a  towering  ascendency  in  the  direction  of  its  efforts,  served 
rather  to  unfit  than  to  qualify  one  for  the  bearing  of  its  standard 
and  the  reception  of  its  highest  honors.  Mr.  Clay  may  well 
have  said  — "  If  General  Taylor  is  so  transcendently  popular,  as 
his  friends  represent  him,  that  his  nomination  is  equivalent  to  an 
election,  why  should  /  be  required  to  take  the  laboring  oar  in 
the  canvass  ?  When  it  is  notorious  that  his  more  ardent  friends 
avowed  their  determination  to  support  him  to  the  end,  whether 
nominated  at  Philadelphia  or  not,  and  when  no  word  of  his  was 
ever  uttered  to  rebuke  that  determination,  why  may  I  not  await 
some  authoritative  and  explicit  avowal  of  his  devotion  to  Whig 
principles  before  denouncing  repugnance  to  his  support  as  rebel 
lion  against  the  Whig  party  ?  Would  it  not  seem  officious  and 
superserviceable  on  my  part  if  I  were  to  step  forward  unasked 
by  General  Taylor,  as  his  champion  when  his  especial  friends 
have  so  often  declared  that  he  only  needed  a  free  course  and  to 
be  let  alone  by  the  politicians  to  insure  his  enthusiastic  and 
overwhelming  triumph  at  the  hands  of  the  people  ?" 

At  length,  however,  about  the  1st  of  September,  the  strong 
feeling  of  discontent  in  many  quarters  at  the  equivocal  position 
still  maintained  by  General  Taylor  \vas  brought  to  a  head  by  his 
written  acceptance  of  a  nomination  made  by  a  public  meeting  in 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  of  himself  for  President  in  connection  with 
General  Butler,  the  regular  candidate  of  the  antagonist  party,  for 


328  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Vice-President.  This,  in  the  eyes  of  politicians  more  prac 
ticed  and  familiar  with  party  usages  than  General  Taylor,  was 
a  virtual  repudiation  of  the  Whig  party  as  having  any  special 
claim  to  his  fidelity  or  favor  in  case  of  his  election  to  the  Presi 
dency. 

An  impulsive  and  spontaneous  movement. to  repudiate  the 
nomination  of  General  Taylor  and  substitute  that  of  Mr.  Clay,  or 
some  other  known  and  unflinching  advocate  of  Whig  principle 
was  commenced  at  Albany,  and  followed  by  meetings  of  similar 
import  in  New  York  and  othfcr  places.  These  having  resulted 
in  the  formal  presentation  of  Mr.  Clay,  especially  in  New  York, 
as  a  candidate  for  President  in  the  pending  contest,  constrained 
him  to  break  the  silence  he  had  hitherto  observed,  and  peremp 
torily  forbid  the  use  of  his  name  in  any  such  connection.  Still, 
he  made  no  public  allusion  to  the  nomination  of  General  Taylor ; 
took  no  active  part  in  the  canvass  ;  and,  if  he  even  voted  at  the 
Presidential  Election,  the  fact  was  not  publicly  noted. 

The  contest,  though  much  closer  than  the  more  ardent  friends 
of  General  Taylor  had  predicted,  resulted  in  his  election.  Penn 
sylvania  decided  the  question  in  his  favor,  casting  an  unprece 
dented  vote  and  giving  him  a  handsome  majority.  Fifteen  of 
the  thirty  States  gave  163  electoral  votes  for  General  Taylor, 
while  the  other  fifteen  gave  but  127  to  General  Cass,  so  that  the 
former  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  36  electoral  votes.  The 
nomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  for  President  by  the  National  Free 
Soil  Convention  at  Buffalo,  and  his  zealous  support  by  the  Barn 
burner  section  of  the  Democratic  party  in  New  York,  doubtless 
contributed  materially  to  this  result.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1849, 
ZACHARY  TAYLOR,  of  Louisiana,  was  inaugurated  as  President, 
and  MILLAR D  FILLMORE,  of  New  York,  as  Vice-President  for 
the  ensuing  four  years. 

During  1849,  the  people  of  Kentucky  elected  and  held  a  Con 
vention  to  revise  their  State  Constitution.  In  view  of  the  elec 
tion,  Mr.  Clay  addressed  them  a  long  and  able  letter,  temperately 
setting  forth  his  reasons  for  desiring  that  a  plan  of  Gradual 
Emancipation  and  Colonization  should  be  adopted.  His  views 
were  overruled  by  a  large  majority  ;  but  their  utterance  is  none 
the  less  creditable  to  their  author. 


AGAIN    A    MEMBER    OF    THE    SENATE,  329 

XXXI. 

REPLY    TO    CAe>S    ON    AUSTRIA ON    FUNERAL    HONORS. 

THE  struggle  for  the  Annexation  of  Texas  to  our  Union  was 
regarded  by  all  discerners  as  marking  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  this  country.  From  the  moment  the  project  was  adopted  by 
John  Tyler  as  a  last  desperate  expedient  for  the  prolongation  of 
his  power,  a  perilous  sectional  excitement  was  inevitable.  His 
Secretary  of  State,  John  C.  Calhoun,  in  officially  explaining  and 
justifying  the  course  of  the  Executive  in  acceding  to  Annexa 
tion,  expressly  based  it  on  a  lively  apprehension  that  the  exist 
ence  and  perpetuity  of  slavery  in  the  Union  might  be  endangered 
by  its  abolition  in  Texas,  which  he  deemed  likely  to  be  brought 
about  by  some  arrangement  between  that  country,  should  it  re 
main  independent,  and  Great  Britain.  General  James  Hamilton, 
of  S.C.,  toasted  Annexation « as  a  measure  calculated  to  give  "a 
Gibraltar  to  the  South."  Every  vehement  advocate  of  slavery 
as  "a  corner-stone  of  our  republican  edifice,"  became  instinctively 
a  champion  oL  Annexation ;  every  slave-trader  at  once  prepared 
to  forget,  or  to  sink,  all  party  differences  in  its  favor ;  and,  long 
before  the  country  had  been  fully  aroused  to  the  true  nature  and 
magnitude  of  the  issue,  a  very  powerful  interest,  consisting  in 
part  of  the  stocks,  bonds,  &c.,  of  Texas,  had  been  concentrated 
upon  the  issue  of  Annexation,  eager  to  make  it  override  all 
others. 

•  At  the  North,  on  the  other  hand,  a  very  general  aversion  to 
the  scheme  was  entertained.  The  unpopularity  of  Tyler,  previ 
ously  emphatic,  was  increased  by  this  project  of  Annexation,  on 
which  it  reflected  discredit  in  turn.  Annexation  had  no  avowed 
friends  in  the  Free  States,  beyond  the  three  or  four  hundred 
persons  whom  the  possession  or  the  hope  of  spoils  still  attached 
to  the  waning  fortunes  of  Tyler,  and  the  still  smaller  number 
who  were  interested  in  Texas  Stocks  and  Bonds.  And  when, 
by  the  nomination  of  Polk  and  Dallas,  the  Democratic  party 
was  inextricably  committed  to  Annexation,  the  greater  portion 
of  its  members  in  New  York  and  other  Free  States,  under  the 


330  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

on  a  resolution  submitted  by  General  Cass,  directing  the  Com 
mittee  on  Foreign  Affairs  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  sus 
pending  diplomatic  intercourse  with  Austria  because  of  her  bar 
barities  inflicted  on  the  betrayed  and  vanquished  patriots  of 
Hungary.  General  Cass,  in  advocating  this  resolution,  expressly 
appealed  to  Mr.  Clay  for  his  support,  intimating  that  his  expec 
tation  was  grounded  on  Mr.  Clay's  well-known  sympathy  with 
those  who  struggle  and  sacrifice  for  Liberty,  as  evinced  in  his 
eloquent  and  powerful  efforts  in  behalf  of  South  American  inde 
pendence.  Mr.  Clay  was  thus  morally  constrained  to  speak, 
and  he  commenced  his  remarks  by  objecting  to  such  a  proposi 
tion  taking  the  form  of  a  resolution  of  inquiry,  when  the  facts 
on  which  action  was  demanded  were  historical  and  known  to 
the  whole  world.  He  continued  : — 

"  Sir,  I  think  that  the  question  ought  to  be  treated  as  if  it  were  a  direct 
proposition  to  suspend  diplomatic  intercourse  with  the  power  indicated  in  the 
original  resolution.  And,  sir,  I  have  been  very  much  struck  with  the  want 
of  sympathy  between  the  premises  and  conclusion  of  the  honorable  senator 
from  Michigan.  In  his  premises  he  depicted  the  enormities  of  Austrian 
despotism.  Who  doubts  the  perpetration  of  those  enormities?  In  the  most 
glowing  strains  of  eloquence,  he  portrayed  to  us  the  wrongs  of  suffering 
Hungary.  Who  doubts  them  ?  He  speaks  of  the  atrocious  executions  com 
mitted  by  her — the  disgrace  of  the  age,  and,  above  all,  of  Austria.  Who 
doubts  it  ?  These  were  the  premises  of  the  honorable  senator ;  but  what 
was  his  conclusion  ?  It  was  requiring  the  recall  of  a  little  Charge"  d'Affaires 
that  we  happen  to  have  at  Vienna !  Why,  the  natural  conclusion  would  be  to 
declare  war  immediately  against  Austria,  if  she  had  committed  such  enor 
mities  ;  though,  from  the  impossibility  of  coming  in  contact  with  her,  this 
resource  might  be  difficult  of  accomplishment.  But,  sir,  there  is  another 
mode  that  is  much  more  congenial,  much  more  compatible  with  the  course 
we  ought  to  take.  The  exiles  from  suffering  and  bleeding  Hungary  are 
now  scattered  through  all  quarters  of  the  globe ;  some  have  reached  our 
hospitable  shores,  some  are  now  wending  their  way  hither,  and  many  are 
scattered  throughout  Europe.  Let  the  Hon.  Senator  bring  forward  some  origi 
nal  plan  for  affording  succor  and  relief  to  the  exiles  of  Hungary — something 
that  shall  be  worthy  of  their  acceptance,  and  the  bestowing  of  which,  upon 
a  brave  and  generous  people,  shall  do  honor  to  a  country  rich  in  boundless 
resources — something  that  shall  be  worthy  of  a  country  which  is  the  asylum 
of  the  wretched  and  the  oppressed  from  all  quarters  of  the  world — some 
thing  that  shall  be  worthy  the  acceptance  of  the  gallantry  and  patriotism 
with  which  those  exiles  fought  in  defence  of  their  own  country.  When  the 
honorable  senator  shall  have  done  this,  then  he  may  call  on  me,  and  call 
not  in  vain,  for  succor  and  support  in  behalf  of  a  proposition  such  as  I  have 

indicated Sir,  unfortunately,  owing  to  causes  upon  which  it  is 

not  necessary  for  me  now  to  dwell,  some  of  them  of  a  very  painful  nature— 
among  which  are  charges  against  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  Hungarian 
army,  which,  if  well-founded,  must  cover  him  with  infamy — unfortunately, 


REMARKS    ON    INTERVENTION.  331 

Hungary  fell  suddenly,  and  to  the  surprise  of  the  American  world.  She  is 
subdued ;  she  is  crushed. 

Now,  if  we  adopt  this  resolution,  I  have  been  curious  to  satisfy  myself  upon 
what  principle  we  can  vindicate  it.  What  principle  does  it  involve  ?  It 
involves  the  principle  of  assuming,  on  the  part  of  this  government,  a  right 
to  pass  judgment  upon  the  conduct  of  Foreign  Powers — a  branch  of  the 
subject  that  has  been  well  treated  of  by  the  senator  who  sits  before  me 
(Mr.  Hale).  Have  we  any  such  power  ?  The  most  extensive  bearing  of  the 
principle  involved  in  the  resolution  proposed  by  the  honorable  senator  from 
Michigan,  assumes  the  right,  on  the  part  of  this  nation,  to  pronounce  upon 
the  conduct  of  all  other  nations,  and  to  follow  it  up  by  some  direct  action, 
such  as  the  suspending  of  intercourse.  We  are  directing,  at  present,  the 
exercise  of  that  power  toward  a  nation,  on  account  of  the  manner  in  which 
they  have  conducted  a  war,  or  of  the  manner  in  which  they  have  treated 
the  unfortunate  prisoners  who  were  taken  during  the  progress  of  that  war. 
But  where  is  to  be  the  limit?  You  begin  with  war.  You  may  extend  the 
same  principle  of  action  to  politics  or  religion — to  society  or  to  social  prin 
ciples  and  habits. 

The  honorable  senator  before  me  (Mr.  Hale)  has  spoken  of  the  conduct 
of  Russia;  and  undoubtedly,  as  between  Russia  and  Austria,  I  consider 
Russia  the  more  culpable.  It  is  true,  she  had  a  pretext  for  her  interference. 
She  was  afraid  of  the  contagion  of  liberty  in  Hungary,  lest  it  might  affect 
her  coterminous  possessions.  That  was  the  pretext  for  her  interference. 
In  the  case,  however,  of  Austria,  though  I  think  Hungary  was  right  and 
Austria  wrong  in  respect  to  the  cause  and  object  of  the  war,  still  there  were 
relations  existing  between  Hungary  and  Austria,  which  did  not  exist 
between  Hungary  and  Russia.  Russia's  interference,  then,  was  voluntary, 
spontaneous,  uncalled  for.  She  had  no  such  pretext  or  ground  for  it  as 
Austria  had,  in  endeavoring  to  subjugate  those  whom  she  was  pleased  to 
call  rebellious  subjects ;  and  yet  the  honorable  senator  has  permitted  Russia 
to  pass — and,  by-the-by,  allow  me  to  say  that,  but  for  the  interference  of 
Russia,  Hungary  would  have  succeeded.  She  had  succeeded,  and  she 
Would  have  eventually  triumphed  in  the  struggle  with  Austria.  The 
honorable  senator,  instead  of  directing  his  proposition  against  Russia,  as  I 
would  have  done,  directs  it  against  Austria,  the  less  offending  power  of  the 
two,  and  proposes  to  pass  Russia  by  unnoticed.  But  if  the  principle  con 
tained  in  the  proposition  be  true,  we  have  a  right  to  examine  into  the 
conduct  of  Russia,  and  into  that  of  other  nations.  Where,  then,  is  the 
limit  ?  You  may  extend  it  to  Religion.  You  may  extend  it  to  the  Inquisi 
tion.  Have  we  not  an  equal  right  to  say  to  Spain,  '  Unless  you  abolish  the 
inquisition,  we  will  suspend  diplomatic  intercourse  with  you?"  ....  Sir, 
if  we  are  to  become  the  defenders  of  nations,  the  censurers  of  other  powers, 
I  again  ask  the  honorable  Senator  where  are  we  to  stop  ?  and  why  does  he 
confine  himself  to  Austria  alone  ? 

"Mr.  President,  the  honorable  Senator  admitted  that  he  entertained  an 
apprehension  tftat  I  was  one  of  those  stationary  politicians  who  refuse  to 
advance  as  the  age  advances ;  one  of  those  politicians,  I  think  his  expression 
was,  that  stand  still ;  that  he  was  in  favor  of  Progress — in  favor  of  going 
ahead.  Sir,  I  should  like  to  understand  the  meaning  of  this  word  'Prog 
ress,'  of  which  the  honorable  Senator  speaks.  I  should  like  to  hear  a 
definition  of  it.  Has  not  this  nation  progressed  with  most  astonishing 
rapidity  in  point  of  population  ?  Has  it  not  by  far  exceeded,  in  this  respect, 
every  other  nation  in  the  world ;  Has  it  not  progressed  in  commerce  and 
manufactures  ?  Has  it  not  increased  in  power  with  a  rapidity  greater  than 


LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

has  ever  been  known  before  in  the  case  of  any  nation  under  the  sun  ?  "What 
is  the  progress  which  the  honorable  Senator  means  ?  I  am  afraid  that  it  ia 
not  an  internal  progress  he  is  in  favor  of;  for,  whatever  his  own  peculiar 
opinions  may  be,  the  school  of  which  he  is  a  distinguished  disciple  is  op 
posed,  as  I  understand,  to  the  improvement  of  our  magnificent  Harbors  and 
Rivers — of  our  glorious  water-courses  throughout  the  country.  That  is  not 
the  progress,  I  apprehend,  which  the  honorable  Senator  is  in  favor  of.  And, 
again,  with  respect  to  the  manufactures  of  the  country,  I  do  not  understand 
the  doctrines  of  the  party  to  which  the  honorable  Senator  belongs  to  be 
in  favor  of  progress  there.  They  are  for  arresting  progress.  Their  progress 
is  backward  in  reference  to  these  matters;  not  intentionally  so,  I  admit,  but 
by  the  course  of  their  policy,  they  carry  us  back  to  the  colonial  days,  when 
we  depended  upon  Great  Britain  for  everything  in  the  way  of  supplies  that 
were  necessary  to  existence. 

"What,  then,  is  the  progress  which  the  honorable  Senator  seems  so  desi 
rous  of  making?  Ah!  I  am  afraid  that  it  is  progress  in  foreign  wars.  I  am 
afraid  it  is  progress  in  foreign  conquest — in  territorial  aggrandizement.  I 
am  afraid  it  is  progress  as  the  disturbers  of  the  possessions  of  our  neighbors 
throughout  this  continent  and  throughout  the  islands  adjacent  to  it.  If  that 
be  the  progress  which  the  honorable  Senator  wishes  to  effect,  I  trust  that  it 
will  be  long  before  the  country  engages  in  any  such  object  as  that;  at  least, 
at  the  expense  of  the  peaceable  portion  of  the  world. 

"Sir,  the  gentleman  says — what  we  all  know — that  this  is  a  great  coun 
try,  a  vast  country ;  great  in  fact,  and  will  be  still  greater  in  future  if  we 
conduct  things  with  prudence,  discretion,  and  wisdom  ;  but  that  very  great 
ness  draws  after  it  great  responsibilities,  and  those  responsibilities  should 
incline  us  to  use  the  vast  power  with  which  we  have  been  blessed  by  the 
kindness  of  Providence,  so  as  to  promote  justice,  so  as  to  avoid  unnecessary 
wars,  maintaining  our  own  rights  witli  firmness,  but  invading  the  rights  of 
no  others.  We  should  be  content  with  the  almost  limitless  extent  of  ter 
ritory  which  we  now  possess,  stretching  from  ocean  to  ocean,  containing 
millions  upon  millions  of  acres  as  yet  inhabited. 

"Sir,  if  the  progress  which  the  honorable  Senator  means  is  a  progress  to 
be  accomplished  by  foreign  wars,  and  foreign  conquest,  and  foreign  terri 
torial  aggrandizement,  I  thank  God  that  I  belong  to  the  party  that  is  sta 
tionary — that  is  standing  still.  -If  that  is  not  his  object,  I  should  like  to 
know  what  he  means  by  progress.  I  should  like  to  meet  with  a  definition 
of  the  kind  of  progress  which  he  thinks  it  is  desirable  for  this  country  to 
make. 

"Mr.  President,  I  have  risen  late  in  the  evening,  really  intending  to  have 
said  much  less  than  I  have  said ;  and  I  must  conclude  by  expressing  the 
hope  that  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  when  they  come  to  deliberate 
seriously  upon  the  consequence  of  the  adoption  of  such  a  resolution  as  this, 
will  pause;  that  they  will  not  open  a  new  field  of  collision  terminating  per 
haps  in  war,  and  exposing  ourselves  to  the  reaction  of  Foreign  Powers, 
who,  when  they  see  us  assuming  to  judge  of  their  conduct,  will  undertake 
in  their  turn  to  judge  of  our  conduct.  We  ought  to  recollect,  that,  with  the 
sole  exception  of  France,  whose  condition  is  yet  somewhat  obscured  in  doubt 
and  uncertainty  as  to  the  fate  of  a  republic  which  she  has  established,  we 
stand  the  leading  Republic  amidst  all  the  Powers  of  the  earth,  an  example 
of  a  free  Government,  and  that  we  should  not  venture  to  give  to  other  na 
tions  even  a  pretext,  much  less  cause,  to  separate  themselves  from  us,  by 
undertaking  to  judge  of  their  conduct,  and  applying  to  them  a  rule  by 
which  we  might  denationalize  nation  after  nation,  according  as  their  con- 


FUNERAL  HONORS  IN  CONGRESS.  333 

duct  may  be  .found  to  correspond  with  our  notion  and  judgment  of  what  is 
right  and  proper  in  the  administration  of  human  affairs.  Sir,  it  does  not 
become  us  to  take  such  perilous  and  unnecessary  grounds,  and  I  trust  that 
we  shall  not  adopt  such  a  course.  I  see  no  necessity  for  referring  this  reso 
lution  to  a  committee.  I  think  it  would  be  unwise  to  adopt  it,  and  I  trust 
the  Senate  will  at  once  negative  the  resolution ;  or,  if  it  shoiild  be  referred, 
confiding  in  the  sound  judgment  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  in 
anticipation,  I  feel  perfectly  sure  of  the  rejection  of  the  resolution  by  the 
committee." 

The  resolution  of  General  Cass  was  not  adopted  in  the  Senate 
and  a  proposition  afterward  made  by  him  to  strike  out  of  the 
general  appropriation  bill  the  item  providing  for  the  outfit  of  a 
Charge  d'Affaires  to  Austria,  was,  on  the  16th  of  April,  nega 
tived,  by  a  vote  of  28  to  17. 

On  the  llth  of  February  Mr.  Clay  proposed  the  following 
resolution : — 

"Resolved,  That  in  future,  when  a  member  of  Congress  dies  and  has  been 
buried  in  the  vacation,  the  Senate  will  not  feel  itself  called  upon  to  extend 
to  the  memory  of  the  deceased  the  honors  and  ceremonies  which  have  been 
of  late  years  usually  awarded ;  but  will  restrict  itself  hereafter  in  the  ap 
propriation  of  those  honors  and  ceremonies  to  cases  of  the  death  of  members 
during  the  session  of  Congress." 

This  resolution  coming  up  in  order  on  the  28th  of  March,  Mr. 
Clay,  in  supporting  it,  said : — 

"There  are  but  two  causes  which  can  justify  the  practice  of  Congress  in 
adjourning  on  account  of  the  death  of  a  member.  One  is,  that  a  member 
dying  here,  the  rites  of  burial  are  due  to  him,  and  our  religion  and  our 
feelings  both  \mite  in  inducing  us  to  cooperate  in  the  performance  of  these 
rites;  the  other  is,  when  a  man  associating  with  us  in  our  public  duties 
during  the  session — mingling  with  us  upon  all  occasions,  private  as  well  as 
public — falls  before  the  great  destroyer  in  our  midst,  sympathy  with  him — 
feeling  for  his  family — regret  for  the  event — render  the  body,  or  a  portion 
of  the  body,  incompetent,  for  a  day" at  least,  to  discharge  its  public  duties. 
Both  these  considerations  unite,  when  the  death  occurs  among  us;  but 
if  the  death  happens  at  a  great  distance  from  us — especially  of  an  unknown 
individual,  long  buried,  with  whom  there  has  been  no  association — none 
of  those  considerations  and  motives  induce  us,  it  strikes  me,  to  adjourn,  and 
discontinue  the  discharge  of  our  public  duties,  in  consequence  of  an  event 
exciting  no  more  interest  to  most  of  us  than  the  death  of  any  other  promi 
nent  individual  in  public  life  would  do.  These  are  the  considerations 
which  I  think  prevailed  in  the  Senate  at  the  time  when  the  subject  was 
first  suggested  to  them.  They  appear  to  me  to  call  on  us — and  we  have 
most  of  us  been  in  Congress  a  length  of  time,  and  felt  the  inconvenience — 
to  adopt  this  resolution." 

Mr.  Clay's  proposition  was  earnestly  opposed  by  Jefferson 
Davis,  of  Mississippi,  but  was  adopted  without  a  division. 


334  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

XXXII. 

TEXAS    ANNEXATION    AND    BOUNDARY SLAVERY    EXTENSION. 

GENERAL  TAYLOR,  having  been  elected  President,  in  Novem 
her,  1848,  but  not  yet  inaugurated,  Mr.  Clay,  on  the  assembling 
of  the  new  Kentucky  Legislature,  in  December,  1848,  was  again 
chosen  a  Senator  of  the  United  States  for  a  full  term  of  six  years 
from  the  4th  of  March,  1849.     His  election  was  unanimous. 

A  special  session  of  the  Senate  was  held  at  the  opening  of 
General  Taylor's  Administration  ;  but  Mr.  Clay  did  not  deem  his 
attendance  thereon  necessary.  At  the  opening  of  the  regular 
session,  however,  on  the  3d  of  December  following,  he  took  his 
seat  in  the  Senate,  nearly  forty-three  years  subsequent  to  his 
first  appearance  as  a  member  of  that  body. 

The  despatch  of  public  business  was  for  some  time  delayed  by 
the  failure  of  the  House  to  elect  a  speaker.  The  Whig  candi 
date  was  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of  Massachusetts  ;  that  of  the 
Opposition  was  Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia ;  but  there  were  five 
Southern  Whigs  who  obstinately  refused  to  vote  for  Mr.  Win 
throp,  because  of  the  support  given  by  him,  with  a  majority  of  the 
Whig  members,  to  the  Wilmot  Proviso  ;  while  an  equal  or  largei 
number  of  Free  Soil  Democrats  withheld  their  support  from  Mr. 
Cobb,  because  he  was  supported  and  electioneered  for  expressly 
as  an  opponent  of  that  Proviso.  Beside  these  were  some  half 
dozen  members  elected  as  distinctive  Free-Soilers  who  would 
vote  for  neither  of  the  leading  candidates  ;  while  four  Whigs, 
two  Democrats,  and  one  Free-Soiler,  were  absent  at  the  open 
ing.  The  vote  on  the  first  ballot  stood  Cobb  103;  Winthrop  96, 
and  22  scattering ;  and  the  contest  was  continued  with  like  re 
sults  until  the  22d,  when  the  House  voted,  by  113  to  106,  that, 
if  no  choice  should  be  effected  on  the  first,  second,  or  third 
ballot  ensuing,  then  the  candidate  having  the  highest  vote  on  the 
next  following  ballot  should  be  declared  the  Speaker  elect 
Under  this  resolution,  Mr.  Cobb  was,  on  the  63d  ballot,  chosen 
Speaker,  having  102  votes  to  99  for  Winthrop,  and  20  scattering. 

On  the  7th  of  January,  Mr.  Clay  rose  to  address  the  Senate 


ANNEXATION    OF 

lead  of  such  men  as  Silas  Wright  and  B.  F.  Butler,  still  pro 
claimed  their  invincible  hostility  to  any  scheme  of  Annexation 
which  should  enure  to  the  benefit  of  slavery — to  any  Annexation 
which  did  not  guaranty  equal  advantage  to  the  Free  with  tVe 
ftlave  States. 

These  professions  were  not  justified  by  their  subsequent  acta 
—  if  indeed  they  could  have  been  without  cutting  loose  from  and 
defying  the  bands  of  party.  Mr.  Polk  having  been  elected  as  an 
avowed  and  unconditional  Annexationist,  and  thus  clothed  with 
immense  patronage  and  power,  the  triumph  of  Annexation  was 
inevitable,  and  the  imposition  of  conditions  unpalatable  to  the 
great  bulk  of  its  supporters  and  patrons  impossible.  Feeble  ef 
forts  to  limit  or  qualify  the  victory  of  the  Slave  Power  were 
made  in  the  House  by  Richard  D.  Davis,  of  New  York,  and 
John  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  but  with  no  other  effect  than 
that  of  silencing  the  former  into  subserviency,  and  driving  the 
latter  out  of  the  party.  Annexation  was  decreed  by  joint  resolu 
tions  of  the  two  Houses,  a  day  or  two  before  Mr.  Folk's  formal 
accession  to  power,  upon  conditions  which  secured  its  whole 
territory  to  slavery,  and  imposed  no  effectual  limitations  on  the 
claim  of  Texas  to  extend  her  dominion  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and 
thus  absorb  one  half  of  the  Mexican  department  of  Tamaulipas, 
a  portion  of  Chihuahua,  Coahuila,  and  nearly  the  whole  vast  ex 
tent  of  New  Mexico,  where  the  Spanish  or  Mexican  Flag  had 
waved  in  undisputed  supremacy  from  a  period  long  anterior  to  the 
settlement  of  the  Cavaliers  at  Jamestown,  or  the  landing  of  the 
Pilgrims  at  Plymouth.  And  Mr.  Polk,  by  ordering  the  march 
of  a  strong  detachment  of  troops  to  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande 
opposite  Matamoros,  evinced  a  determination  to  support  the  ut 
most  claims  of  Texas  with  the  whole  power  of  the  Government, 
and  secure  to  Slavery  the  fullest  measure  of  aggrandizement 
from  its  triumph. 

Thus  was  the  War  with  Mexico  provoked  and  commenced ; 
such  were  the  aspects  under  which  it  was  prosecuted.  But 
when,  after  a  year  of  unbroken  success,  the  President  applied  to 
Congress  for  Three  Millions  of  Dollars  to  be  used,  if  advisable, 
in  the  negotiation  of  a  peace,  it  became  evident  that  large  ac 
quisitions  of  territory,  even  beyond  the  apocryphal  limits  of  Tex- 


336  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

as,  were  meditated ;  and  now,  the  Northern  Democracy,  smart 
ing  under  a  sense  of  the  justice  of  the  Whig  taunts  that,  in  this 
whole  business  of  Texan  Annexation  and  Mexican  War,  the 
blood  and  treasure  of  the  nation  had  been  lavished  for  the  exten 
sion  of  Slavery,  were  stirred  up  to  an  assertion  of  independence. 
When  the  $3,000,000  proposition  aforesaid  came  up  for  decision 
in  the  House,  a  hasty  consultation  was  held  between  the  leading 
Democrats  of  the  North,  from  which  resulted  a  Proviso,  moved 
by  Mr.  Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania,  and  hence  designated  by  his 
name,  declaring  that  no  territory  which  might  be  acquired  from 
Mexico  at  the  close  of  the  war  should  be  opened  to  the  introduc 
tion  of  Slaves.  This  Proviso  was  adopted  by  the  House :  nearly 
all  the  members  from  the  Free  States,  without  distinction  of 
party,  sustaining  it ;  but  it  failed  in  the  Senate,  where  it  was 
left  over  unacted  on,  having  been  received  from  the  House  just 
previous  to  the  hour  fixed  for  the  close  of  the  session  of  1847. 
And  though  the  question  was  repeatedly  revived  during  the  three 
following  sessions,  and  the  principle  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso 
nearly  as  often  reaffirmed  by  the  House,  yet  it  was  never  con 
curred  in  by  the  Senate,  but  on  several  occasions  negatived  by 
that  body.  The  short  session  of  1848-'9  was  rendered  memor 
able  by  an  earnest  and  protracted  struggle,  respecting  the  organ 
ization  of  the  Territories  acquired  by  conquest  and  treaty  from 
Mexico — the  House  insisting  on  the  interdiction  of  Slavery 
therein,  and  the  Senate  rejecting  any  such  condition.  Ulti 
mately,  the  session  closed  as  it  had  begun,  no  Wilmot  Proviso 
having  been  passed,  nor  any  legal  provision  made  for  the  civil 
organization  of  the  Territories. 

The  question  of  prohibiting  Slavery  in  the  Territories  neces 
sarily  blended  with  and  embarrassed  the  settlement  of  the  Bound 
ary  of  Texas.  The  historical  as  well  as  actual  Territory  of 
Texas,  prior  to  her  Annexation,  stopped  far  short  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  and  in  fact  extended  no  farther  West  and  South  than 
the  valley  of  the  Nueces  ;  and  that,  it  did  not  extend  beyond 
34°  North,  is  indisputable.  Up  to  the  day  that  General  Taylor 
received  orders  from  the  War  Department  to  march  down  to  and 
take  post  on  the  Rio  Grande,  there  had  never  been  a  settlement 
nor  settler  in  any  part  of  the  valley  of  that  river  under  the  flag 


THE    WILMOT    PROVISO.  337 

of  Texas.  No  dollar  of  tax  had  ever  been  collected  by  Texas 
on  territory  watered  by  the  Rio  Grande,  nor  had  one  of  her  civil 
officers  ever  served  a  process  there.  On  two  or  three  occasions, 
during  the  desultory  warfare  which  had  for  years  been  prose 
cuted  between  Texas  and  Mexico,  expeditions,  half  predatory, 
half  military,  had  borne  the  flagjof  Texas  to  the  banks  of  the 
RiD  Grande,  and  once  or  twice  Jiad  assailed  and  captured  one 
of  the  Mexican  cities  on  the  right  bank  of  that  river ;  but  they 
•were  almost  immediately  routed  or  compelled  to  make  a  hasty 
retreat  to  avoid  an  encounter  with  overwhelming  force  ;  so  that 
the  Texan  flag  had  at  no  time  floated  for  a  month  continuously 
in  the  Rio  Grande  valley.  The  only  expedition  by  which  Tex 
as  ever  attempted  the  subjugation  of  New  Mexico  was  surprised, 
defeated,  and  nearly  every  man  in  it  made  prisoner,  before  it  had 
advanced  within  sight  of  Sante  Fe.  Yet  Texas  asserted  on  paper 
that  her  western  boundary  was  the  Rio  Grande  ;  so  that  Con 
gress  was  impelled,  in  view  of  this  assertion,  to  stipulate  in  the 
annexing  resolutions  for  an  express  consent  by  Texas,  that  all 
questions  of  boundary  between  her  and  Mexico  should  be  subject 
to  settlement  by  the  Federal  Government — a  requirement  which 
was  reluctantly  but  explicitly  submitted  to. 

But  when  President  Polk,  by  "marching  our  army  down  to  the 
Rio  Grande  while  our  Government  still  professed  to  maintain  am 
icable  relations  with  Mexico,  had  clearly  assumed  that  the  terri 
torial  rights  of  Texas  were  coextensive  with  her  utmost  claims, 
and  Congress  had  formally  asserted  that  in  the  conflicts  which 
followed  within  sight  of  Matamoros,  "  American  blood"  had  been, 
shed  on  "  American  soil,"  Texas  very  naturally  insisted  that  all 
cavil  or  hesitation  by  the  Federal  Government  as  to  the  rightful- 
ness  of  her  claim  was^precluded,  and  that  its  validity  was  fully  ad 
mitted  and  established.  Whatever  objection  to  that  claim  Mexico 
might  have  offered,  the  United  States  could  interpose  none  without 
an  impeachment  of  their  own  integrity  and  veracity.  When,  there 
fore,  the  whole  of  New  Mexico  and  the  left  bank  of  the  lower 
R:.3  Grande  became  by  conquest  and  treaty  the  territory  of  the 
United  States,  Texas  took  possession  of  the  latter,  and  asserted 
her  right  to  the  former  as  one  which  the  Federal  Government 
could  with  decency  neither  gainsay  nor  resist.  And  if  the  party 
.0  22 


338  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

•    ~4| 

which  plunged  the  country  into  war  on  the  assumption  that 
Texas  extended  to  the  Rio  Grande  had  continued  in  power,  it  is 
not  probable  that  the  claim  would  have  been  effectually  resisted. 

The  election  of  General  Taylor,  however,  changed  materially 
the  aspects  of  the  case.  The  Whigs,  as  a  party,  had  always 
scouted  the  territorial  claims  of  Texas  as  preposterous,  and 
consequently  regarded  the  war  on  Mexico  as  originated  in  fraud 
and  prosecuted  in  falsehood  and  iniquity.  General  Taylor  him 
self  was  thoroughly  convinced  that  Texas  had  no  more  right  to 
New  Mexico  than  to  Oregon,  and  was  ready  as  President  to  re 
pel  force  by  force,  if  needful,  in  resistance  to  her  pretensions. 
And  as  Texas,  instigated  by  the  propagandists  of  Slavery  in 
other  States  of  the  South,  proclaimed  and  evinced  a  determina 
tion  to  vindicate  her  claim  by  the  sword,  a  collision  between  her 
authority  and  that  of  the  Union  seemed,  through  a  part  of  1850, 
imminent — a  collision  in  which  the  active  support  of  Texas  by 
the  whole  force  of  the  Slave  States,  and  a  consequent  disruption 
of  the  Union,  were  by  many  deemed  inevitable. 

The  Democratic  party  of  the  Free  States,  though  it  had  very 
generally  professed  to  acquiesce  in  the  principle  of  the  Wilmot 
Proviso,  and  though  many  of  its  leaders  in  Congress  and  else 
where  affected  great  zeal  for  the  preservation  of  Free  Soil  from 
the  blighting  tread  of  Slavery,  manifested  no  disposition  to  resist 
the  subjugation  of  New  Mexico  to  the  dominion  of  Slavery  under 
the  pretense  of  organizing  it  as  part  of  the  rightful  territory  of 
Texas.  Having  so  recently  and  so  vehemently  asserted  the  jus 
tice  of  the  war  on  Mexico,  and  of  course  affirmed  the  rightful- 
ness  of  the  territorial  claims  of  Texas,  the  party  could  not,  without 
palpable  and  glaring  inconsistency,  resist  the  acts  of  Texas  in 
farther  assertion  of  those  claims  and  in  undeniable  accordance 
therewith.  Thus,  with  nearly  the  entire  South  supporting  the 
pretensions  of  Texas  for  Slavery's  sake,  and  the  North  divided 
and  paralyzed  by  the  committal  of  one  half  its  statesmen  and 
people  to  those  pretensions  through  their  justification  of  the  war 
on  Mexico,  there  remained  no  hope  of  any  direct  action  by  Con* 
gress  looking  to  the  preservation  of  New  Mexico  from  the  doom 
that  threatened  her.  The  danger  was  great  and  obvious,  that 
while  Congress  daily  effervesced  with  Free  Soil  professions  and 


INTRODUCTION    OF    THE    COMPROMISE.  339 

speeches,  and  a  majority  of  the  House  seemed  engrossed  with 
anxiety  to  preserve  California  and  Utah  from  the  very  remote 
and  contingent  peril  of  an  establishment  of  Slavery  therein,  New 
Mexico  might  be  absorbed  by  Texas,  and  thus  converted  into  a 
Slavery-sustaining  region  as  large  as  France,  carrying  the  '  pecu 
liar  institution'  up  to  42°  North  or  nearly  the  latitude  of  Boston. 
All  that  General  Taylor's  administration  could  have  done  m  re 
sistance  to  this  consummation  must  have  been  confined  to  the 
offensive  and  forcible  operations  of  Texas,  for  which  a  politic 
and  moderate  expenditure  of  money  upon  the  degraded  and  igno 
rant  population  of  New  Mexico  might  have  obviated  all  necessity. 
Had  $100,000  been  skilfully  dispersed  in  New  Mexico,  in  1849- 
'50,  in  support  of  the  Texan  pretensions,  it  is  probable  that  "  the 
county  of  Santa  Fe"  might  have  been  organized  and  the  whole 
territory  of  New  Mexico  thereby  subjected  henceforth  to  the 
sovereignty  and  the  institutions  of  Texas. 


XXXIII. 

THE    SLAVERY    COMPROMISE    OF    1850. 

SUCH  were  the  circumstances  under  which  Mr.  Clay  on  the 
29th  of  January,  1850,  submitted  to  the  Senate  his  plan  for  an 
adjustment  of  the  differences  respecting  the  organization  of  the 
Territories  and  the  interdiction  of  Slavery  therein.  The  subject 
is  so  important  in  itself,  and  has  so  profoundly  affected  the  sub 
sequent  politics  of  the  country,  that  justice  to  Mr.  Clay  seems  to 
require  that  his  original  propositions  and  the  explanations  which 
accompanied  them  should  here  be  given  in  full.  They  are  as 
follows : — 

Mr.  President,  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  series  of  resolutions  which  I  desire  to 
sabmit  to  the  consideration  of  this  body.  Taken  together,  in  combination, 
they  propose  an  amicable  arrangement  of  all  questions  in  controversy 
between  the  free  and  the  slave  states,  growing  out  of  the  subject  of  slavery. 
It  is  not  my  intention,  Mr.  President,  at  this  time,  to  enter  into  a  full  and 
elaborate  discussion  of  each  of  these  resolutions,  taken  separately,  or  the 
whole  of  them  combined  together,  as  composing  a  system  of  measures ;  but 
I  desire  to  present  a  few  observations  upon  each  resolution,  with  the  pur- 


540  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

pose  chiefly  of  exposing  it  fairly  and  fully  before  the  Senate  and  before  the 
3ouutry ;  and  I  may  add,  with  the  indulgence  of  the  Senate,  toward  the 
3onclusion,  some  general  observations  upon  the  state  of  the  country,  and 
,he  condition  of  the  question  to  which  the  resolutions  relate.  Whether 
•hey  shall  or  shall  not  meet  with  the  approbation  and  concurrence  of  the 
Senate,  as  I  most  ardently  hope  they  may,  as  I  most  sincerely  believe  they 
ought,  I  trust  that  at  least  some  portion  of  the  long  time  which  I  have  de 
voted  with  care  and  deliberation,  to  the  preparation  of  these  resolutions, 
and  to  the  presentation  of  this  great  national  scheme  of  compromise  and 
harmony,  will  be  employed  by  each  senator  before  he  pronounces  against 
the  proposition  embraced  in  these  resolutions.  The  resolutions,  sir,  are  all 
preceded  by  a  short  preamble,  to  which,  of  course,  I  attach  no  very  great 
importance.  The  preamble  and  first  resolution  are  as  follows : 

It  being  desirable  for  the  peace,  concord,  and  harmony  of  the  union  of  these  states  to 
settle  and  adjust  amicably  all  existing  questions  of  controversy  between  them  arising  out 
of  the  institution  of  slavery,  upon  a  fair,  equitable,  and  just  basis  :  Therefore 

1st.  Resolved,  That  California,  with  suitable  boundaries,  ought,  upon  her  application,  to  be 
admitted  as  one  of  the  States  of  this  Union,  without  the  imposition  by  Congress  of  any 
restriction  in  respect  to  the  exclusion  or  introduction  of  slavery  within  those  boundaries. 

Mr.  President,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  there  has  been  some  irregu 
larity  in  the  movements  which  have  terminated  in  the  adoption  of  a  consti 
tution  by  California,  and  in  the  expression  of  her  wish,  not  yet  formally 
communicated  to  Congress,  it  is  true,  but  which  may  be  anticipated  in  a 
few  days,  to  be  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State.  There  has  been  some 
irregularity  in  the  manner  in  which  they  have  framed  that  constitution.  It 
was  not  preceded  by  any  act  of  Congress  authorizing  the  convention,  and 
designating  the  boundaries  of  the  proposed  state,  according  to  all  the  early 
practice  of  this  government,  according  to  all  the  cases  of  the  admission 
of  new  States  into  this  Union,  which  occurred,  I  think,  yrior  to  that 
of  Michigan.  Michigan,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  was  the  first  State  which,  un 
bidden,  unauthorized  by  any  previous  act  of  Congress,  undertook  to  form  for 
herself  a  constitution,  and  to  knock  at  the  door  of  Congress,  for  admission 
into  the  Union.  I  recollect  that  at  the  time  when  Michigan  thus  presented 
herself,  I  was  opposed,  in  consequence  of  that  deviation  from  the  early 
practice  of  the  government,  to  the  admission.  The  majority  determined 
otherwise;  and  it  must  be  in  candor  admitted  by  all  men,  that  California 
has  much  more  reason  to  do  what  she  has  done,  vinsanctioned  and  un 
authorized  by  a  previous  act  of  Congress,  than  Michigan  had  to  do  what  she 
did. 

Sir,  notwithstanding  the  irregularity  of  the  admission  of  Michigan  into 
the  Union,  it  has  been  a  happy  event.  She  forms  now  one  of  the  bright 
stars  of  this  glorious  confederacy.  She  has  sent  here  to  mingle  in  our 
councils  senators  and  representatives — men  eminently  distinguished,  with 
whom  we  may  all  associate  with  pride,  with  pleasure,  and  with  satisfaction. 
And  I  trust  that  if  California,  irregular  as  her  previous  action  may  have  been 
in  the  adoption  of  a  constitution,  but  more  justifiable  than  was  the  action 
of  Michigan — if  she  also  shall  be  admitted,  as  is  proposed  by  this  first  resolu 
tion,  with  suitable  limits,  that  she,  too,  will  make  her  contribution  of  wis 
dom,  of  patriotism,  and  of  good  feeling  to  this  body,  in  order  to  conduct  the 
affairs  of  this  great  and  boundless  empire. 

The  resolution  proposes  her  admission  when  she  applies  for  it.  There  ia 
ro  intention  on  niy  part  to  anticipate  such  an  application,  but  I  thought  it 
right  to  present  this  resolution  as  a  part  of  the  general  plan  which  I 
propose  for  the  adjustment  of  these  unhappy  difficulties. 

The  second  resolution,  sir,  is  as  follows: 


INTRODUCTION    OF    THE    COMPROMISE.  341 

2d.  Resolved,  That  as  slavery  does  not  exist  by  law,  and  is  not  likely  to  be  introduced  in- 
to  any  of  the  territory  acquired  by  the  United  States  from  the  republic  of  Mexico,  it  is  in 
expedient  for  Congress  to  provide  by  law  either  for  its  introduction  into  or  exclusion  from 
any  part  of  the  said  territory;  and  that  appropriate  territorial  governments  ought  to  bo 
established  by  Congress  in  all  of  the  said  territory,  not  assigned  as  the  boundaries  of  tho 
proposed  state  of  California,  without  the  adoption  of  any  restriction  or  condition  on  the 
eubject  of  slavery. 

This  resolution,  sir,  proposes,  in  the  first  instance,  a  declaration  of  two 
truths,  one  of  law  and  the  other  of  fact.  The  truth  of  law  which  it  declares 
is,  that  there  does  not  exist  at  this  time,  slavery  within  any  portion  of  tho 
territory  acquired  by  the  United  States  from  Mexico.  When  I  say,  sir,  it  ia 
a  truth,  I  speak  my  own  solemn  and  deliberate  conviction.  I  am  aware 
that  some  gentlemen  have  held  a  different  doctrine;  but  I  persuade 
myself  that  they  themselves,  when  they  come  to  review  the  whole  ground, 
will  see  sufficient  reasons  for  a  change,  or  at  least  a  modification  of  their 
opinions ;  but  that,  at  all  events,  if  they  adhere  to  that  doctrine,  they  will 
be  found  to  compose  a  very  small  minority  of  the  whole  mass  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States. 

The  next  truth  which  the  resolution  asserts  is,  that  slavery  is  not  likely 
to  be  introduced  into  any  portion  of  that  territory.  That  is  a  matter  of  fact; 
and  all  the  evidence  upon  which  the  fact  rests,  is,  perhaps,  as  accessible  to 
other  senators  as  it  is  to  me ;  but  I  must  say  that,  from  all  I  have  heard  or 
read,  from  the  testimony  of  all  the  witnesses  I  have  seen  and  conversed  with, 
from  all  that  has  transpired  and  is  transpiring,  1  do  believe  that  not  within, 
one  foot  of  the  territory  acquired  by  xis  from  Mexico  will  slavery  ever  be 
planted,  and  I  believe  it  could  not  be  done  even  by  the  force  and  power 
of  public  authority. 

Sir,  facts  are  daily  occurring  to  justify  me  in  this  opinion.  S'r,  what  has 
occurred?  And  upon  that  subject,  and  indeed  upon  this  whole  subject,  I 
invite  senators  from  the  free  states  especially  to  consider  what  has  occurred 
even  since  the  last  session — even  since  the  commencement  of  this  session— 
since  they  left  their  respective  constituencies,  without  an  opportunity 
of  consulting  with  them  upon  that  great  and  momentous  fact — the  fact  that 
California  herself,  of  which  it  was  asserted  and  predicted  that  she  never 
would  establish  slavery  within  her  limits  when  she  came  to  be  admitted  as 
a  state ;  that  California  herself,  embracing, \>f  all  other  portions  of  the  country 
acquired  by  us  from  Mexico,  that  country  into  which  it  would  have  been 
most  likely  that  slavery  should  have  been  introduced;  that  California 
herself  has  met  in  convention,  and  by  a  unanimous  vote,  embracing  in  that 
body  slaveholders  from  the  state  of  Mississippi,  as  well  as  from  other  parts, 
who  concurred  in  the  resolution — that  California  by  a  unanimous  vote,  has 
declared  against  the  introduction  of  slavery  within  her  limits.  I  think, 
then,  that  taking  this  leading  fact  in  connection  with  all  the  evidence  we 
have  from  other  sources  on  the  subject,  I  am  warranted  in  the  conclusion 
which  constitutes  the  second  truth  which  I  have  stated  in  this  resolution, 
that  slavery  is  "not  likely  to  be  introduced  into  any  of  the  territory 
acquired  by  us  from  Mexico." 

Sir,  the  latter  part  of  the  resolution  asserts  that  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress 


to  establish  appropriate  territorial  governments  within  all  the  country 
acquired  from  Mexico,  exclusive  of  California,  not  embracing  in  the  acts  by 
which  these  governments  shall  be  constituted  either  a  prohibition  or  an  ad 


mission  of  slavery. 

Sir,  much  as  I  am  disposed  to  defer  to  high  authority,  anxious  as  I  really  am 
to  find  myself  in  a  position  that  would  enable  me  to  co-operate  heartily  with 
the  other  departments  of  the  government  in  conducting  the  affairs  of  this  great 
people,  I  must  say  that  I  can  not  without  a  dereliction  of  duty  consent  to  an 


342  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

abandonment  of  them  without  government,  leaving  t>\em  to  all  those  scenes 
of  disorder,  confusion,  and  anarchy,  which  I  apprehend,  in  respect  of  some 
of  them,  there  is  too  much  reason  to  anticipate  will  arise.  It  is  the  duty, 
the  solemn — I  was  going  to  add  the  most  sacred — duty  of  Congress  to  legis 
late  for  their  government  if  they  can,  and,  at  all  events,  to  legislate  for 
them,  and  to  give  them  the  benefit  of  law,  and  order,  and  security. 

The  next  resolutions  are  the  third  and  fourth,  which,  having  an  immediate 
connection  with  each  other,  should  be  raad  and  considered  together.  They 
are  as  follows : 

3d.  Resolved,  That  the  western  boundary  of  (;he  State  of  Texas  ought  to  be  fixed  on  the 
Rio  del  Norte,  commencing  one  marine  league  from  its  mouth,  and  running  up  that  river 
to  the  southern  line  of  New  Mexico ;  thence  \v'.th  that  line  eastwardly,  and  so  continuing 
in  the  same  direction  to  the  line  established  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  excluding 
any  portion  of  New  Mexico,  whether  lying  on  the  east  or  west  of  that  river. 

4th.  Resolved,  That  it  be  proposed  to  the  State  of  Texas,  that  the  United  States  will  provide 
for  the  payment  of  all  that  portion  of  the  legitimate  and  bona  Jide  public  debt  of  that  state, 
contracted  prior  to  its  annexation  to  the  United  States,  and  for  which  the  duties  on  foreign 


upon  the  condition  also,  that  the  said  State  of  Texas  shall,  by  some  solemn  and  authentic  act 
of  her  legislature,  or  of  a  convention,  relinquish  to  the  United  States  any  claim  which  it  has  to 
any  part  of  New  Mexico. 

Mr.  President,  I  do  not  mean  now,  I  do  not  know  that  I  shall  at  any 
time  (it  is  a  very  complex  subject,  and  one  not  free  from  difficulty)  to  go 
into  the  question  of  what  are  the  true  limits  of  Texas.  My  own  opinion  is, 
I  must  say,  without  intending  by  the  remark  to  go  into  any  argument,  that 
Texas  has  not  a  good  title  to  any  portion  of  what  is  called  New  Mexico. 
And  yet,  sir,  I  am  free  to  admit  that,  looking  at  the  grounds  which  her  rep 
resentatives  assumed,  first  in  the  war  with  Santa  Anna  in  1836,  then  at 
what  transpired  between  Mr.  Trist  and  the  Mexican  negotiators  when  the 
treaty  of  peace  was  negotiated,  and  then  the  fact  that  the  United  States 
have  acquired  all  the  country  which  Texas  claimed  as  constituting  a  por 
tion  of  her  territory ;  looking  at  all  these  facts,  but  without  attaching  to 
them,  either  together  or  separately,  the  same  degree  of  force  which  gentle 
men  who  think  that  Texas  has  a  right  to  New  Mexico  do,  I  must  say  that 
there  is  plausibility,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  in  the  pretensions  that  she  sets 
up  to  New  Mexico.  I  do  not  think  that  they  constitute  or  demonstrate  the 
existence  of  a  good  title,  but  a  plausible  one.  Well,  then,  sir,  what  do  I 
propose  ?  Without  entering  into  any  inquiry  whether  the  Nueces  or  the 
Rio  Grande  was  the  true  boundary  of  Texas,  I  propose,  by  the  first  of  these 
two  resolutions,  that  its  western  limits  shall  be  fixed  on  the  Rio  del 
Norte,  extending  west  from  the  Sabine  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  del  Norte, 
and  that  it  shall  follow  up  the  Bravo  or  the  Rio  del  Norte,  to  where  it 
strikes  the  southern  line  of  New  Mexico,  and  then,  diverging  from  that 
line,  follow  on  in  that  direction  until  it  reaches  the  line  as  fixed  by  the 
United  States  and  Spain,  by  their  treaty  of  1819;  and  thus  embracing  a 
vast  country,  abundantly  competent  to  form  two  or  three  States — a  country 
which  I  think  the  highest  ambition  of  her  greatest  men  ought  to  be  satisfied, 
with  as  a  State  and  member  of  this  Union. 

But,  sir,  the  second  of  these  resolutions  makes  a  proposition  to  the  State 
of  Texas  upon  which  I  desire  to  say  a  few  words.  It  proposes  that  the 
government  of  the  United  States  will  provide  for  the  payment  of  all  that 
portion  of  the  debt  of  Texas  for  which  the  duties  received  upon  imports 
from  foreign  countries  was  pledged  by  Texas  at  a  time  when  she  had 
authority  to  make  pledges.  How  much  it  will  amount  to  I  have  endeavored 


THE  PUBLIC  DEBT  OF  TEXAS.  343 

to  ascertain,  hut  all  the  means  requisite  to  the  ascertainment  of  the  sum 
nave  not  been  received,  and  it  is  not  very  essential  at  this  time,  because 
it  is  the  principle  and  not  the  amount  that  is  most  worthy  of  consideration. 
Now,  sir,  the  ground  upon  which  I  base  this  liability  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  to  pay  a  specified  portion  of  the  debt  of  Texas  is  not  new  to 
me.  It  is  one  which  I  have  again  and  again  announced  to  be  an  opinion 
entertained  by  me.  I  think  it  is  founded  upon  principles  of  truth  and 
eternal  justice.  Texas,  being  an  independent  power,  recognised  as  such  by 
all  the  great  powers  of  the  earth,  invited  loans  to  be  made  to  her,  to  enable 
her  to  prosecute  the  then  existing  war  between  her  and  Mexico.  She  told 
those  whom  she  invited  to  make  these  loans,  that  "  if  you  make  them,  the 
duties  on  foreign  imports  shall  be  sacredly  pledged  for  the  reimbursement 
of  the  loans."  The  loans  were  made.  The  money  was  received,  and  ex 
pended  in  the  establishment  of  her  liberty  and  her  independence.  After  all 
this,  she  annexed  herself  to  the  United  States,  who  thenceforward  acquired 
the  right  to  the  identical  pledge  which  she  had  made  to  the  public  creditor 
to  satisfy  the  loan  of  money  which  he  had  advanced  to  her.  The  United 
States  became  the  owners  of  that  pledge,  and  the  recipient  of  all  the  duties 
payable  in  the  ports  of  Texas. 

Now,  sir,  I  do  say  that,  in  my  humble  judgment,  if  there  be  honor,  or 
justice,  or  truth  among  men,  we  do  owe  to  the  creditors  who  thus  advanced 
their  money  upon  that  pledge,  the  reimbursement  of  the  money,  at  all  events 
^o  the  extent  that  the  pledged  fund  would  have  reimbursed  it,  if  it  had  never 
i^een  appropriated  by  us  to  our  use.  We  must  recollect,  sir,  that  in  relation 
to  that  pledge,  and  to  the  loan  made  in  virtue  and  on  the.  faith  of  it,  there 
were  three  parties  bound — I  mean  after  Annexation — the  United  States, 
Texas,  and  the  creditor  of  Texas,  who  had  advanced  his  money  on  the  faith 
of  a  solemn  pledge  made  by  Texas. 

Texas  and  the  United  States  might  do  what  they  thought  proper ;  but  in 
justice  they  could  do  nothing  to  deprive  the  creditor  of  a  full  reliance  upon 
the  pledge  upon  the  faith  of  which  he  had  advanced  his  money.  Sir,  it  is 
impossible  now  to  ascertain  how  much  would  have  been  received  from  that 
source  of  revenue  by  the  State  of  Texas  if  she  had  remained  independent. 
It  would  be  most  unjust  to  go  there  now  and  examine  at  Galveston  and  her 
other  ports,  to  ascertain  how  much  she  now  receives  by  her  foreign  imports; 
because,  by  being  incorporated  into  this  Union,  all  her  supplies,  which  for 
merly  were  received  from  foreign  countries,  and  subject — many  of  them  at 
least — to  import  duties,  are  now  received  by  the  coasting  trade,  instead  of 
being  received  from  other  countries,  as  they  would  have  been  if  she  had 
remained  independent.  Considering  the  extent  of  her  territory,  and  the 
rapid  manner  in  which  her  population  is  increasing,  and  is  likely  to  in 
crease,  it  is  probable  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  there  might  have  been 
such  an  amount  received  at  the  various  ports  of  Texas — she  remaining  in 
dependent — as  would  have  been  adequate  to  the  extinction  of  the  debt  to 
which  I  have  referred. 

But,  sir,  it  is  not  merely  in  the  discharge  of  what  I  consider  to  be  a  valid 
and  legitimate  obligation  resting  upon  the  United  States  to  discharge  the 
specified  duty,  it  is  not  upon  that  condition  alone  that  this  payment  is  pro 
posed  to  be  made ;  it  is  also  upon  the  further  condition  that  Texas  shall  re 
linquish  to  the  United  States  any  claim  that  she  has  to  any  portion  of  New 
Mexico.  Now,  sir,  although,  as  I  believe,  she  has  not  a  valid  title  to  any 
portion  of  New  Mexico,  she  has  a  claim  ;  and  for  the  sake  of  that  general  quiet 
and  harmony,  for  the  sake  of  that  accommodation  which  ought  to  be  as  much 
the  object  of  legislation  as  it  is  of  individuals  in  their  transactions  in  private 


344  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

life,  we  may  do  now  what  an  individual  in  analogous  circumstances  might 
do,  give  something  for  the  relinquishment  of  a  claim,  although  it  should  not 
be  well  founded,  for  the  sake  of  peace.  It  is,  therefore,  proposed — and  this 
resolution  does  propose — that  we  shall  pay  the  amount  of  the  debt  contracted 
by  Texas  prior  to  its  annexation  to  the  United  States,  in  consideration  of  our 
reception  of  the  duties  applicable  to  the  extinction  of  that  debt ;  and  that 
Texas  shall  also,  in  consideration  of  a  sum  to  be  advanced,  relinquish  any 
claim  which  she  has  to  any  portion  of  New  Mexico. 

The  fifth  resolution,  sir,  and  the  sixth,  like  the  third  and  fourth,  are  some* 
what  connected  together.  They  are  as  follows : — 

5th.  Resolved,  That  it  is  inexpedient  to  abolish  Slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  whilst 
that  institution  continues  to  exist  in  the  State  of  Maryland,  without  the  consent  of  that  State, 
without  the  consent  of  the  people  of  the  District,  and  without  just  compensation  to  the 
owners  of  slaves  within  the  District. 

6th.  But  Resolved,  That  it  is  expedient  to  prohibit  within  the  District  the  slave-trade,  in 
slaves  brought  into  it  from  States  or  places  beyond  the  limits  of  the  District,  either  to  be 
sold  therein  as  merchandise,  or  to  be  transported  to  other  markets,  without  the  District 
of  Columbia. 

The  first  of  these  resolutions,  Mr.  President,  in  somewhat  different  lan 
guage,  asserts  substantially  no  other  principle  than  that  which  was  asserted 
by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  twelve  years  ago,  upon  resolutions  which 
I  then  offered,  and  which  passed — at  least  the  particular  resolution  passed — 
by  a  majority  of  four-fifths  of  the  Senate.  I  allude  to  the  resolution  pre 
sented  by  me  in  1838.  I  shall  not  enlarge  on  that  resolution;  it  speaks  for 
itself;  it  declares  that  the  institution  of  slavery  should  not  be  abolished  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  without  the  concurrence  of  three  conditions;  first, 
the  assent  of  Maryland  ;  second,  the  assent  of  the  people  within  the  district; 
and  third,  compensation  to  the  owners  of  the  slaves  within  the  district  for 
their  property. 

The  next  resolution  proposed  deserves  a  passing  remark.  It  is  that  the 
slave-trade  within  the  district  ought  to  be  abolished,  prohibited.  I  do  not 
mean  by  that  the  alienation  and  transfer  of  slaves  from  the  inhabitants 
within  this  district — the  sale  by  one  neighbor  to  another  of  a  slave  which 
the  one  owns  and  the  other  wants,  that  a  husband  may  perhaps  be  put  along 
with  his  wife,  or  a  wife  with  her  husband.  I  do  not  mean  to  touch  at  all 
the  question  of  the  right  of  property  in  slaves  among  persons  living  within 
the  district ;  but  the  slave-trade  to  which  I  refer  was,  I  think,  pronounced 
an  abomination  more  than  forty  years  ago,  by  one  of  the  most  gifted  and  dis 
tinguished  sons  of  Virginia,  the  late  Mr.  Randolph.  And  who  is  there  who 
is  not  shocked  at  its  enormity?  Sir,  it  is  a  great  mistake  at  the  North,  if 
they  suppose  that  gentlemen  living  in  the  slave  States  look  upon  one  who  is 
a  regular  trader  in  slaves  with  any  particular  favor  or  kindness.  They  are 
often — sometimes  unjustly,  perhaps — excluded  from  social  intercourse.  I 
have  known  some  memorable  instances  of  this  sort.  But,  then,  what  is  this 
trade  ?  It  is  a  good  deal  limited  since  the  retrocession  of  that  portion  of  the 
district  formerly  belonging  to  Virginia.  There  are  Alexandria,  Richmond, 
Petersburg,  and  Norfolk,  south  of  the  Potomac,  and  Baltimore,  Annapolis, 
and  perhaps  other  ports,  north  of  the  Potomac.  Let  the  slave-dealer,  who 
chooses  to  collect  his  slaves  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  go  to  these  places ; 
let  him  not  come  here  and  establish  his  jails,  and  put  on  his  chains,  and 
Bometimes  shock  the  sensibilities  of  our  nature  by  a  long  train  of  slaves 
passing  through  that  avenue  leading  from  this  Capitol  to  the  house  of  the 
Chief  Magistrate  of  one  of  the  most  glorious  Republics  that  ever  existed. 
Why  should  he  not  do  it  ?  Sir,  I  am  sure  I  speak  the  sentiments  of  every 
Southern  man,  and  every  man  coming  from  the  slave  States,  when  I  say  let 


SLAVERY MUTUAL   FORBEARANCE.  345 

it  terminate,  and  that  it  is  an  abomination ;  and  there  is  no  occasion  for  it ; 
it  ought  no  longer  to  be  tolerated. 

The  seventh  resolution  relates  to  a  subject  embraced  in  a  bill  now  under 
consideration  by  the  Senate.  It  is  as  follows : — 

7th,  Resolved,  That  more  effectual  provision  ought  to  be  made  by  law,  according  to  the 
requirement  of  the  constitution,  for  the  restitution  and  delivery  of  persons  bound  to  service 
or  labor  in  any  State  who  may  escape  into  any  other  State  or  Territory  in  the  Union. 

Sir,  that  is  so  evident,  and  has  been  so  clearly  shown  by  the  debate  which 
has  already  taken  place  on  the  subject,  that  I  have  not  now  occasion  to  add 
another  word. 

The  last  resolution  of  the  series  of  eight  is  as  follows : — 

And  8th.  Resolved,  That  Congress  has  no  power  to  prohibit  or  obstruct  the  trade  in 
slaves  between  the  slaveholcling  States ;  but  that  the  admission  or  exclusion  of  slaves 
brought  from  one  into  another  of  them,  depends  exclusively  upon  their  own  particular 
laws. 

It  is  obvious  that  no  legislation  is  necessary  or  intended  to  follow  that  res 
olution.  It  merely  asserts  a  truth,  established  by  the  highest  authority 
of  law  in  this  country,  and,  in  conformity  with  that  decision,  I  trust  there 
will  be  one  universal  acquiescence. 

I  should  not  have  thought  it  necessary  to  embrace  in  that  resolution  the 
declaration  which  is  embraced  in  it,  but  that  I  thought  it  might  be  useful  in 
treating  of  the  whole  subject,  and  in  accordance  with  the  practice  of  our 
British  and  American  ancestors,  occasionally  to  resort  to  great  fundamental 
principles,  and  bring  them  freshly  and  manifestly  before  our  eyes,  from  time 
to  time,  to  avoid  their  being  violated  upon  any  occasion. 

Mr.  President,  you  have  before  you  the  whole  series  of  resolutions,  the 
whole  scheme  of  arrangement  and  accommodation  of  these  distracting  ques 
tions,  which  I  have  to  offer,  after  having  bestowed  on  these  subjects  the  most 
anxious,  intensely  anxious,  consideration  ever  since  I  have  been  in  this  body. 
How  far  it  may  prove  acceptable  to  both  or  either  of  the  parties  on  these 
great  questions,  it  is  not  for  me  to  say.  I  think  it  ought  to  be  acceptable  to 
both.  There  is  no  sacrifice  of  any  principle,  proposed  in  any  of  them,  by 
either  party.  The  plan  is  founded  upon  mutual  forbearance,  originating  in 
a  spirit  of  conciliation  and  concession ;  not  of  principles,  but  of  matters  of 
feeling.  At  the  North,  sir,  I  know  that  from  feeling,  by  many  at  least 
cherished  as  being  dictated  by  considerations  of  humanity  and  philanthropy, 
there  exists  a  sentiment  adverse  to  the  institution  of  slavery. 

Sir,  I  might,  I  think — although  I  believe  this  project  contains  about  an 
equal  amount  of  concession  and  forbearance  on  both  sides — have  asked  from 
the  free  States  of  the  North  a  more  liberal  and  extensive  concession  than 
should  be  asked  from  the  slave  States.  And  why,  sir  ?  With  you,  gentle 
men  Senators  of  the  free  States,  what  is  it  ?  An  abstraction,  a  sentiment — 
a  sentiment,  if  you  please,  of  humanity  and  philanthropy — a  noble  sentiment, 
when  directed  rightly,  with  no  sinister  or  party  purposes ;  an  atrocious 
sentiment — a  detestable  sentiment — or  rather  the  abuse  of  it — when  directed 
to  the  accomplishment  of  unworthy  purposes.  I  said  that  I  might  ask  from 
you  larger  and  more  expansive  concessions  than  from  the  slave  States.  And 
why  ?  You  are  numerically  more  powerful  than  the  slave  States.  'Not  that 
there  is  any  difference — for  upon  that  subject  I  can  not  go  along  with  the 
ardent  expression  of  feeling  by  some  of  my  friends  coming  from  the  same 
class  of  States  from  which  I  come — not  that  there  is  any  difference  in  valor, 
in  prowess,  in  noble  and  patriotic  daring,  whenever  it  is  required  for  the 
safety  and  salvation  of  the  country,  between  the  people  of  one  class  of 
O* 


346  alFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY 


States  an  I  those  of  the  other.  You  are,  in  point  of  numbers,  however, 
greater  ;  and  greatness  and  magnanimity  should  ever  be  allied. 

But  there  are  other  reasons  why  concession  upon  such  a  subject  as  this 
should  be  more  liberal,  more  expansive,  coming  from  the  free  than  from  the 
slave  States.  It  is,  as  I  remarked,  a  sentiment,  a  sentiment  of  humanity  and 
philanthropy,  on  your  side.  Ay,  sir,  and  when  a  sentiment  of  that  kind  is 
honestly  and  earnestly  cherished,  with  a  disposition  to  make  sacrifices  to  en 
force  it,  it  is  a  noble  and  beautiful  sentiment  ;  but,  sir,  when  the  sacrifice  is 
not  to  be  made  by  those  who  cherish  that  sentiment  and  inculcate  it,  but  by 
another  people,  in  whose  situation  it  is  impossible,  from  their  position,  to 
sympathize  and  to  share  all  and  everything  that  belongs  to  them,  I  must  say 
to  you,  Senators  from  the  free  States,  it  is  a  totally  different  question.  On 
your  side  it  is  a  sentiment  without  sacrifice,  a  sentiment  without  danger,  a 
sentiment  without  hazard,  without  peril,  without  loss.  But  how  is  it  on  the 
other  side,  to  which,  as  I  have  said,  a  greater  amount  of  concession  ought  to 
be  made  in  any  scheme  of  compromise  ? 

In  the  first  place,  sir,  there  is  a  vast  and  incalculable  amount  of  property 
to  be  sacrificed,  and  to  be  sacrificed,  not  by  your  sharing  in  the  common 
burdens,  but  exclusive  of  you.  And  this  is  not  all.  The  social  intercourse, 
habit,  safety,  property,  life,  everything,  is  at  hazard,  in  a  greater  or  less  de 
gree,  in  the  slave  States. 

Sir,  look  at  that  storm  which  is  now  raging  before  you,  beating  in  all  its 
fage  pitilessly  on  your  family.  They  are  in  the  South.  But  where  are  your 
families,  where  are  your  people,  Senators  from  the  free  States?  They  are 
safely  housed,  enjoying  all  the  blessings  of  domestic  comfort,  peace,  and 
quiet,  in  the  bosom  of  their  own  families. 

Behold,  Mr.  President,  that  dwelling-house  now  wrapped  in  flames. 
Listen,  sir,  to  the  rafters  and  beams  which  fall  in  succession,  amid  the  crash; 
and  the  flames  ascending  higher  and  higher  as  they  tumble  down.  Behold 
those  women  and  children  who  are  flying  from  the  calamitous  scene,  and  with 
their  shrieks  and  lamentations  imploring  the  aid  of  high  Heaven.  Whose 
house  is  that?  Whose  wives  and  children  are  they?  Yours  in  the  free 
States  ?  No.  You  are  looking  on  in  safety  and  security,  whilst  the  confla 
gration  which  I  have  described  is  raging  in  the  slave  States,  and  produced, 
not  intentionally  by  you,  but  produced  from  the  inevitable  tendency  of  the 
measures  which  you  have  adopted,  and  which  others  have  carried  far  beyond 
what  you  have  wished. 

In  the  one  scale,  then,  we  behold  sentiment,  sentiment,  sentiment  alone  ; 
in  the  other  property,  the  social  fabric,  life,  and  all  that  makes  life  desirable 
and  happy. 

But,  sir,  I  find  myself  engaged  much  beyond  what  I  intended,  when  I  came 
this  morning  from  my  lodgings,  in  the  exposition  with  which  I  intended  these 
resolutions  should  go  forth  to  the  consideration  of  the  world.  I  can  not 
omit,  however,  before  I  conclude,  relating  an  incident,  a  thrilling  incident, 
which  occurred  prior  to  my  leaving  my  lodgings  this  morning. 

A  man  came  to  my  room  —  the  same  at  whose  instance,  a  few  days  ago,  I 
presented  a  memorial  calling  upon  Congress  for  the  purchase  of  Mount  Ver- 
non  for  the  use  of  the  public  —  and,  without  being  at  all  aware  of  what  pur 
pose  I  entertained  in  the  discharge  of  my  public  duty  to-day,  he  said  to  me  : 
"Mr.  Clay,  I  heard  you  make  a  remark,  the  other  day,  which  induces  me  to 
suppose  that  a  precious  relic  in  my  possession  would  be  acceptable  to  you." 
He  then  drew  out  of  his  pocket,  and  presented  to  me,  the  object  which  I 
now  hold  in  my  hand.  And  what,  Mr.  President,  do  you  suppose  it  is  ?  It 
is  a  fragment  of  the  coffin  of  Washington  —  a  fragment  of  that  coffin  in  which 


EFFECT    OF    THE    COMPROMISE.  $47 

now  repose  in  silence,  in  sleep,  and  speechless,  all  the  earthly  remains  of  the 
venerated  Father  of  his  Country.  Was  it  portentous  that  it  should  have 
been  thus  presented  to  me  ?  Was  it  a  sad  presage  of  what  might  happen  to 
that  fabric  which  Washington's  virtue,  patriotism,  and  valor,  established? 
No,  sir,  no.  It  was  a  warning  voice,  coming  from  the  grave  to  the  Congress 
now  in  session  to  beware,  to  pause,  to  reflect,  before  they  lend  themselves  to 
any  purposes  which  shall  destroy  that  Union  which  was  cemented  by  his 
exertions  and  example.  Sir,  I  hope  an  impression  may  be  made  on  your 
mind  such  as  that  which  was  made  on  mine  by  the  reception  of  this  precious 
relic. 

And,  in  conclusion,  I  now  ask  every  Senator,  I  entreat  you,  gentlemen,  in 
fairness  and  candor,  to  examine  the  plan  of  accommodation  which  this  series 
of  resolutions  proposes,  and  not  to  pronounce  against  them  until  convinced 
after  a  thorough  examination.  I  move  that  the  resolutions  be  read  and  re 
ceived. 

The  careful  reader  can  not  fail  to  perceive  that  Mr.  Clay's 
propositions,  though  couched  in  language  inoffensive  to  the  pride 
of  the  South,  were  calculated  and  intended  to  exclude  Slavery 
from  all  the  territory  acquired  from  Mexico  by  treaty.  In  au 
thoritatively  affirming  that  the  "  peculiar  institution"  had  no  legal 
foothold  in  that  territory,  it  effectually  precluded  its  establishment 
therein ;  since  Slavery  was  very  unlikely  to  be  established  by 
others  than  slaveholders,  and  these  could  hardly  increase  and 
multiply  so  as  to  obtain  controlling  power  in  a  region  where 
slaves  could  not  be  legally  held.  In  proposing  the  extinguish 
ment  of  whatever  claim  Texas  might  be  supposed  to  have  to 
New  Mexico,  he  provided  also  for  the  almost  certain  exclusion 
of  Slavery  from  the  latter ;  since  the  danger  was  not  that  the 
people  of  New  Mexico,  present  or  future,  would  legalize  Slavery, 
but  that  the  extension  of  the  jurisdiction  and  laws  of  Texas,  so 
as  to  cover  this  territory,  would  make  New  Mexico  slavehold- 
ing  in  its  own  despite,  drawing  thither  slaveholders  and  slave- 
breeders,  and  chaining  that  vast  region  evermore  to  the  car  of 
the  Slave-Power,  as  Western  Virginia  and  the  Mountain  region 
of  North  Carolina,  Georgia,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee,  are  now 
chained  in  defiance  of  that  natural  un fitness  for  profitable  slave- 
culture,  which  Mr.  Webster  so  forcibly  indicated  as  "  the  law 
of  God,"  prohibiting  Slavery,  and  needing  no  reenactment  by 
Man. 

The  existence  of  this  law  is  undoubted  ;  but  the  fact  that  it  is 
often  overruled  by  political  ligaments  is  equally  sure.  When  Mr. 
Clay  had  concluded.  Mr.  Rusk  of  Texas,  observed :  — 


348  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"  I  do  not  intend,  Mr.  President,  to  enter  into  this  discussion  ;  and  I  rise 
simply  for  the  purpose  of  saying  that  I  regret  extremely  that  the  distinguish 
ed  Senator  from  Kentucky,  in  his  laudable  desire  to  settle  a  very  trouble 
some  question,  now  agitating  the  people  of  the  United  States,  should  have 
seen  proper,  rather  unceremoniously,  as  I  think,  to  take  one-half  of  the  ter 
ritory  of  the  State  I  have  the  honor  in  part  here  to  represent,  to  make  a 
peace-offering  to  a  spirit  of  encroachment  on  the  constitutional  rights  of  one- 
half  of  this  Union.  I  do  not  intend  to  enter  into  any  discussion  of  that 
grave  and  important  question,  nor  do  I  intend,  when  the  discussion  of  these 
resolutions  shall  arise,  to  put  myself  in  opposition  to  the  powers  of  oratory 
of  the  distinguished  Senator  from  Kentucky  ;  but  I  do  promise  now  to  prove, 
when  that  discussion  shall  arise,  that  the  boundaries  of  Texas  are  to  the  Rio 
Grande;  that  no  power  at  all  exists  in  Congress  to  take  cognizance  of  that 
question  ;  and  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  can  not  interfere  with 
the  boundaries  of  the  State  of  Texas,  without  inflicting  a  deeper  stain  on 
the  high  reputation  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  for  justice,  than 
would  be  done  by  appropriating  the  entire  amount  of  territory  which  waa 
acquired  by  all  for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  one-half  of  those  who  ac 
quired  it." 

Mr.  Foote,  of  Mississippi,  rose  to  rebut  the  presumption  of  ac 
quiescence,  which  the  silence  of  Southern  senators  might  justify, 
and  objected  to  the  tenor  of  Mr.  Clay's  resolutions  on  these, 
among  other  grounds  :  — 

1.  That  in  asserting  the  inexpediency  of  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  district  of  Columbia  by  Congress,  they  affirm  by  implica 
tion,  the  power  of  Congress  to  legislate  on  that  subject ;  whereas, 
he  maintained,  that  Congress  has  no  such  legislative  power  at  all. 

"2.  The  resolutions  of  the  honorable  Senator,  assert  that  slavery  does  not 
now  exist  by  law  in  the  territories  recently  acquired  from  Mexico  ;  whereas, 
I  am  of  opinion  that  the  treaty  with  the  Mexican  Republic  carried  the  Con 
stitution,  with  all  its  guaranties,  to  all  the  territory  obtained  by  treaty,  and 
secured  the  privilege  to  every  Southern  slaveholder,  to  enter  any  part  of  it, 
attended  by  his  slave  property,  and  to  enjoy  the  same  therein  free  from  all 
molestation  or  hinderance  whatever." 

3.  He  was  unwilling  to  affirm  that  slavery  would  not  be  intro 
duced  into  the  territories. 

"4.  Considering,  as  I  have  several  times  heretofore  formally  declared,  the 
title  of  Texas  to  all  the  territory  embraced  in  her  boundaries  as  laid  down 
in  her  law  of  1836,  full,  complete,  and  undeniable,  I  am  unwilling  to  say 
anything,  by  resolution  or  otherwise,  which  may  in  the  least  degree  draw 
that  title  into  question,  as  I  think  is  done  by  one  of  the  resolutions  of  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky." 

Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  also  objected  to  the  general  scope  and 
spirit  of  Mr.  Clay's  propositions,  saying:  — 

"There  is  another,  which  I  deeply  regret  to  see  introduced  into  this  Senate 
by  a  Senator  from  a  slaveholding  State ;  it  is  that  which  assumes  that 


OBJECTIONS    TO    THE    COMPROMISE.  349 

slavery  now  does  not  exist  by  law  in  those  countries That  was 

the  very  proposition  advanced  by  the  non-slaveholding  States  at  the  last  ses 
sion,  combated  and  disproved,  as  I  thought,  by  gentlemen  from  the  slave- 
holding  States I  deem  it  to  be  my  duty  to  enter  a  decided 

protest,  on  the  part  of  Virginia,  against  such  doctrines.  They  concede  the 
whole  question  at  once,  that  our  people  shall  not  go  into  the  new  territories 
and  take  their  property  with  them  ;  a  doctrine  to  which  I  never  will  assent, 
and  for  which,  sir,  no  law  can  be  found." 

To  the  same  effect,  Col.  Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi,  fol 
lowing,  said :  — 

"An  honorable  and  distinguished  Senator,  to  whom  the  country  has  been 
induced  to  look  for  something  that  would  heal  the  existing  dissensions,  in 
stead  of  raising  new  barriers  against  encroachment,  dashes  down  those  here 
tofore  erected,  and  augments  the  existing  danger.  A  representative  from 
one  of  the  slaveholding  States  raises  his  voice  for  the  first  time  in  disregard 
of  this  admitted  right.  Nor,  Mr.  President,  did  he  stop  here.  The  boundary 
of  a  State,  with  which  we  have  no  more  right  to  interfere  than  with  the 
boundary  of  the  State  of  Kentucky,  is  encroached  upon.  The  United  States, 
sir,  as  the  agent  for  Texas,  had  a  right  to  settle  the  question  of  boundary 
between  Texas  and  Mexico.  Texas  was  not  annexed  as  territory,  but  was 
admitted  as  a  State,  and  at  the  period  of  her  admission,  her  boundaries  were 
established  by  her  Congress.  She,  by  the  terms  of  annexation,  gave  to  the 
United  States  the  right  to  define  her  boundary  by  treaty  with  Mexico ;  but 
the  United  States,  in  the  treaty  made  with  Mexico,  subsequent' to  the  war 
with  that  country,  received  from  Mexico,  not  merely  a  cession  of  the  terri 
tory  that  was  claimed  by  Texas,  but  much  which  lay  beyond  the  asserted 
limits.  Shall  we,  then,  acting  simply  as  the  agent  of  Texas  in  the  settlement 
of  this  question  of  boundary,  take  from  the  principal  for  whom  we  act  that 
territory  which  belongs  to  her,  to  which  we  asserted  her  title  against  Mexico, 
and  appropriate  it  to  ourselves?  Why,  sir,  it  would  be  a  violation  of 
justice,  and  of  a  principle  of  law  which  is  so  plain  that  it  does  not  require 
one  to  have  been  bred  to  the  profession  of  law  to  understand  it.  The  prin 
ciple  I  refer  to  is,  that  an  agent  can  not  take  for  his  own  benefit  anything 
resulting  from  the  matter  in  controversy,  after  having  acquired  it  as  be 
longing  to  the  principal  for  whom  he  acts.  The  agent  can  not  appropriate 
to  himself  rights  acquired  for  his  client.  The  right  of  Texas,  therefore,  to 
that  boundary,  was  made  complete  by  the  treaty  of  peace,  which  silenced 
the  only  rival  claim  to  the  territory.  It  was  distinctly  defined  by  the  acts 
of  her  congress  before  the  time  of  annexation,  and  I  have  only  to  refer  to 
those  acts,  to  show  that  the  boundary  of  Texas  was  the  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte, 
from  its  mouth  to  its  source.  What  justice,  or  even  decent  regard  for  fair 
ness,  can  there  be,  now  that  Texas  has  acceded  to  Annexation  upon  certain 
terms,  to  propose  a  change  of  boundary  in  violation  of  those  terms,  and  by 
the  power  we  hold  over  her  as  a  part  of  the  Union?" 

The  debate  was  still  farther  continued  by  Messrs.  Jefferson 
Davis  of  Mississippi,  King  of  Alabama,  Downs  of  Louisiana, 
Berrien  of  Georgia,  Butler  of  South  Carolina,  all  deprecating 
the  spirit  and  drift  of  Mr.  Clay's  resolutions,  or  more  mildly  ob 
jecting  ^hat  they  conceded  too  much  to  the  North;  and  by  Mr 


350  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

Clay  in  reply,  explaining  and  defending  them.  Not  one  Northern 
senator  objected  thafc  they  conceded  too  much  to  the  South.  Mr. 
Downs  (afterward  a  Compromise  man),  said  :  — 

"I  protest  against  this  compromise,  if  so  you  please  to  call  it,  because  in 
not  one  single  point,  if  I  clearly  understand  its  meaning,  does  it  propose  to 
the  benefit  of  the  people  of  the  South.  Without  attempting,  in  the  slightest 
degree,  to  question  the  motives  that  influenced  the  honorable  Senator  in  the 
presentation  of  these  resolutions,  I  am  sure  the  people  of  the  South  will  not 
consider  it  a  compromise  at  all,  inasmuch  as  it  gives  all  to  one  side.  I  can 
assure  you,  sir,  that  when  the  people  of  the  South  come  to  see  this  great 
compromise,  and  consider  that  it  concedes  a  State  and  two  or  three  terri 
tories  to  the  North,  and  concedes  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  in  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia  to  the  North,  without  any  concession  whatever  to  the 
South,  they  will  not  be  satisfied  with  it.  No  gentleman  can  show  me  that 
it  contains  a  single  concession  to  the  South,  and,  therefore,  I  protest 
against  it." 

Mr.  Berrien  objected  to  the  averment  that  slavery  has  now  no 
legal  existence  in  the  territories  acquired  from  Mexico.  He 
said  :  — 

"I  would  not,  for  a  single  moment,  have  it  conceived  by  my  constituents 
that  I  could  acquiesce  in  the  propositions  asserted  in  these  resolutions.  Be 
fore  they  can  receive  my  concurrence,  there  are  provisions  contained  in  them 
which  must  be  substantially  modified,  and  there  are  important  omissions  which 
must  be  supplied.  .  .  .  .  Connected  as  I  have  been  in  the  earlier  stages 
of  this  discussion — I  mean  at  the  anterior  session — with  the  question  of  the 
validity  of  those  laws  which  are  supposed  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  terri 
tories  acquired  from  Mexico,  I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  to  meet  the  declara 
tion  of  opinion  by  the  declaration  of  opinion,  and  the  assertion  of  the  readi 
ness  to  maintain  the  opinion  by  argument,  that  the  opinion  which  I  have 
expressed  on  this  subject  at  an  anterior  period,  is  the  opinion  which,  after 
the  most  careful  examination,  the  most  anxious  deliberation  I  could  bestow 
on  the  subject,  I  now  entertain,  and  that,  with  such  powers  as  God  has  given 
me,  I  am  ready  to  maintain  it  whenever  the  opportunity  is  offered." 

In  the  same  spirit,  Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  asked  :  — 

"  What  is  there  in  the  nature  of  a  Compromise  here ;  coupled  as  it  is  with 
the  proposition  that,  by  the  existing  laws  in  the  Territories,  it  is  almost  cer 
tain  that  slaveholders  can  not,  and  have  no  right  to,  go  there  with  their 

property? I  shall  always  think  that,  under  a  constitution 

giving  equal  rights  to  all  parties,  the  slaveholding  people,  as  such,  can  go 
to  these  Territories  and  retain  their  property  there.  But  if  we  adopt  this 
proposition  of  the  Senator  from  Kentucky,  it  is  clearly  on  the  basis  that 

slavery  shall  not  go  there We  have  only  asked,  and  it  is  the 

only  Compromise  to  which  we  shall  submit,  that  Congress  shall  withhold 
the  hand  of  violence  from  the  Territories.  The  only  way  in  which  this 
question  can  be  settled,  is  for  gentlemen  at  the  North  to  withdraw  all  their 
opposition  to  the  territorial  governments,  and  not  insist  on  their  slavery  pro 
hibition  ;  the  Union  is  then  safe  enough." 

We  may  n  3t  hereafter  find  so  good  an  opportunity  to  state  that 


COMMITTEE    ON    THE    COMPROMISE.  351 

Mr.  Foote  of  Mississippi  (who  afterward  signalized  himself  as 
a  most  devoted  and  zealous  champion  of  Compromise),  took  oc 
casion  (February  14),  to  renewedly  assail  Mr.  Clay's  proposition 
as  conceding  everything  to  the  North,  closing  with  the  following 
chaste  and  dignified  simile  :  — 

"It  is  my  opinion  that  the  honorable  Senator  from  Kentucky  is  at  present 
playing  the  game  of  political  power  with  our  neighbors  of  the  North  in  a 
manner  decidedly  unskillful.  He  is  throwing  into  the  hands  of  his  adver 
saries  all  the  trump  cards  in  the  pack,  and  depriving  his  partners  and  him 
self  of  the  privilege  both  of  holding  honors  and  of  winning  the  odd  tricks 
of  legislation.  He  is  doing  more  than  this,  even ;  he  generously  gives  his 
enemies  two  bullets  and  a  br  agger  with  the  ace  superadded,  whilst  he  rashly 
stakes  his  all  upon  the  imaginary  potency  of  a  mere  broken  hand!  The 
fate  of  such  gaming  as  this,  it  is  most  easy  to  predict." 

The  resolutions  were  then  made  the  special  order  for  the  fol 
lowing  Tuesday,  when  Mr.  Clay  addressed  the  Senate  at  length 
in  their  favor  till  the  adjournment,  resuming  and  concluding  his 
argument  on  the  following  day.  Having  already  given  in  full 
his  remarks  on  introducing  the  resolutions,  we  need  not  here  re 
state  his  general  views.  The  debate  was  continued  by  Messrs. 
Berrien,  Jefferson  Davis,  Downs,  Miller  of  New  Jersey,  Benton, 
Rusk,  Bell  (who  introduced  a  separate  proposition),  Calhoun 
(whose  speech  was  read  by  Mr.  Mason  of  Virginia,  Mr.  C.  being 
then  enfeebled  by  the  disease  of  which  he  died  a  few  days  after  • 
ward),  Walker  of  Wisconsin,  Webster,  and  several  others, 
evincing  the  greatest  diversity  of  views  on  the  general  subject 
involved.  At  length,  on  the  llth  of  March,  Mr.  Foote  of  Mis 
sissippi,  asked  unanimous  consent  to  the  taking  up  of  Mr.  Bell's 
proposition,  in  order  to  refer  it  to  a  committee  such  as  he  had 
already  proposed,  to  consist  of  thirteen  Senators  ;  six  each  from 
the  slaveholding  and  non-slaveholding  States  respectively,  and 
the  thirteenth  to  be  chosen  by  the  twelve  ;  said  committee  to  be 
charged  with  the  duty  of  maturing  some  scheme  of  Compromise 
for  the  final  settlement  of  all  pending  questions  relating  to  slavery 
and  the  territories.  This  was  an  essential  modification  of  a 
kindred  resoive  submitted  by  Mr.  Foote,  on  the  14th  of  February, 
and,  though  withdrawn  at  this  time,  was  renewed  by  Mr.  Foote, 
a  few  days  after,  and  ultimately  adopted.  Of  this  Committee,  Mr. 
Clay  was  unanimously  chosen  Chairman  (April  19),  Mr.  Foote 
having  declined  serving  thereon.  The  remaining  members 


352  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

elected  by  ballot,  were  Messrs.  Cass,  Dickinson,  Bright,  Webster, 
Phelps,  Cooper,  King,  Mason,  Downs,  Mangum,  Bell,  and  Ber- 
rien.  The  opponents  of  the  projected  compromise  generally  de 
clined  to  vote.  Mr.  Clay,  on  the  8th  of  May,  made  an  elaborate 
report  from  a  majority  of  this  committee,  affirming  the  propriety 
and  necessity  of  a  Compromise,  and  indicating  the  bases  on  which 
it  should  be  effected.  These  bases  were  substantially  as  fol 
lows  :  — 

1.  The  admission  of  any  new  State  or  States  formed  out  of 
Texas  to  be  postponed  until  they  shall  hereafter  present  them 
selves  to  be  received  into  the  Union,  when  it  will  be  the  duty 
of  Congress  fairly  and  faithfully  to  execute  the  compact  with 
Texas   by  admitting  such  new  State  or  States  with  or  without 
Slavery  as  they  shall  by  their  constitutions  determine. 

2.  The  admission  forthwith  of  California  into  the  Union,  with 
the  boundaries  which  she  has  proposed. 

"3.  The  establishment  of  territorial  governments  without  the  Wilmot 
Proviso  for  New  Mexico  and  Utah,  embracing  all  the  territory  recently- 
acquired  by  the  United  States  from  Mexico,  not  contained  in  the  boundaries 
of  California. 

"4.  The  combination  of  these  two  last-mentioned  measures  in  the  same 
bill. 

"5.  The  establishment  of  the  western  and  northern  boundary  of  Texas, 
and  the  exclusion  from  her  jurisdiction  of  all  New  Mexico,  with  the  grant 
to  Texas  of  a  pecuniary  equivalent ;  and  the  section  for  that  purpose  to  be 
incorporated  into  the  bill  admitting  California,  and  establishing  territorial 
governments  for  Utah  and  New  Mexico. 

"6.  More  effectual  enactments  to  secure  the  prompt  delivery  of  persons 
bound  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof,  who  escape 
into  another  State.  And, 

"7.  Abstaining  from  abolishing  Slavery;  but,  under  a  heavy  penalty, 
prohibiting  the  Slave-Trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia." 

The  Committee's  propositions  differed,  as  will  be  seen,  from 
Mr.  Clay's  original  resolutions  ;  first,  in  affirming  the  absolute 
right  of  any  new  States  which  may  be  formed  out  of  Texas  to 
admission  into  the  Union  on  the  usual  terms  without  regard  to 
the  existence  or  non-existence  of  Slavery  therein;  and,  secondly, 
in  combining  the  admission  of  California  in  the  same  bill  with 
the  organization  of  the  new  territories,  and  the  settlement  of  the 
boundary  of  Texas  —  for  this  also  was  included  in  the  Omnibus 
Bill,  though  the  fact  does  not  appear  in  the  committee's  synopsis 
above  given  The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  and  that  prohibiting  the 


DEFEAT    OF    THE    OMNIBUS    BILL.  353 

Slave-Trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia  were  presei  ^d  in  sep 
arate  bills.  The  former  was  substantially  the  bill  submitted  to 
the  Senate  months  before  by  Mr.  Mason,  of  Virginia,  as  the 
Omnibus  Bill  was  in  good  part  made  up  of  the  several  bills  pro 
viding  for  the  admission  of  California  and  the  organization  of  the 
territories  which  had  already  been  reported  by  Mr.  Douglas  from 
the  Territorial  Committee.  The  proposition  to  pay  Texas  a 
sum  not  then  specified,  but  afterward  fixed  by  Mr.  Clay  at 
$10,000,000,  for  the  relinquishment  of  her  claim  to  New  Mexico, 
was  the  only  portion  of  the  plan  of  Compromise  absolutely  ori 
ginal  with  Mr.  Clay. 

The  debate  on  this  important  Report  and  the  leading  bill  ac 
companying  it  immediately  commenced,  and  engrossed  the  time, 
of  the  Senate  for  nearly  three  months.  More  than  half  the  Sen 
ators  made  set  speeches  thereon.  The  bill  was  assailed  with 
equal  vigor  and  resolution  from  each  side  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line  by  Messrs.  Seward,  Hale,  Hamlin,  Davis,  Baldwin,  Dayton, 
&c.,  on  the  part  of  the  North ;  and  by  Messrs.  Hunter,  Mason, 
Butler,  Turney,  Yulee,  Soule,  Borland,  &c.,  on  behalf  of  the 
South.  Mr.  Benton  was  likewise  among  its  most  vigorous  and 
indefatigable  opponents  —  resisting  it,  however,  not  on  any  ground 
of  intrinsic  objection  to  its  material  provisions,  but  mainly  on 
that  of  the  incongruity  of  the  various  propositions  composing  it. 
This  was,  indeed,  the  weak  point  of  the  measure,  and  the  able 
tacticians  opposing  it  did  not  fail  to  perceive  and  profit  by  the 
fact.  The  bill  was  finally  killed  by  an  amendment  moved  by 
Mr.  Dawson,  of  Georgia,  and  incautiously  assented  to  by  Mr. 
Clay,  providing,  in  effect,  that  until  such  time  as  the  boundary 
line  between  the  State  of  Texas  and  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  be  agreed  to  by  the  legislature  of  Texas,  the  territorial 
government  for  New  Mexico,  authorized  by  this  act,  shall  not 
go  into  operation  east  of  the  Rio  Grande,  nor  shajl  any  State  be 
established  for  New  Mexico  embracing  any  territory  east  of  the 
Rio  Grande.  This  amendment  was  regarded  by  many  friends 
of  New  Mexico  who  were  also  friends  of  the  Compromise  as 
exposing  that  territory  to  be  overrun  and  swallowed  up  by  Tex 
as — the  very  danger  to  avert  which  had  been  the  chief  induce 
ment  of  thsir  assent  to  the  Compromise.  This  amendment  hav- 

23 


354  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY 

ing  oecn  carried  by  a  vote  of  30  to  28,  Mr.  Pearce,  of  Maryland, 
moved  the  striking  out  of  all  that  portion  of  the  bill  which  related 
to  New  Mexico  which  prevailed  —  Yeas,  33  ;  Nays,  22 —  and  this 
proved  the  death-blow  of  the  '  Omnibus.'  The  several  portions 
of  the  bill  were  now  successively  stricken  out,  until  there  re 
mained  only  the  sections  providing  for  the  organization  of  the 
Territory  of  Utah,  in  which  shape  it  was  ordered  to  a  third 
reading  by  a  vote  of  32  to  18.  The  bill  in  this  shape  passed  on 
the  1st  of  August,  and  was  followed  in  the  course  of  the  session 
by  separate  bills  providing  for  the  admission  of  California,  the 
organization  of  New  Mexico  with  the  settlement  of  the  boundary 
of  Texas  on  a  basis  which  gives  Texas  far  more  and  secures  to 
New  Mexico  less  territory  than  did  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Clay 
in  the  Committee  of  Thirteen,  while  providing  equally  with  that 
for  the  payment  of  the  full  $  10,000,000  to  Texas.  The  Fugitive 
Slave  Act  and  the  abolition  of  the  Slave-Trade  in  the  District, 
also  passed  both  Houses,  were  approved  by  the  President,  and 
thus  became  laws  of  the  land.  Mr.  Clay,  however,  worn  out 
by  his  protracted  labors  and  anxiety  in  leading  the  defence  of 
the  Omnibus  bill,  left  his  seat  and  the  city  on  the  2d  of  August 
for  a  season  of  repose  and  medical  treatment,  and  did  not  return 
till  near  the  close  of  the  month.  Of  all  the  measures  originally 
included  in  the  plan  of  Compromise,  there  remained  to  be 
passed  by  the  Senate  only  that  providing  for  the  abolition  of  the 
Slave-Trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  which  he  heartily  sup 
ported. 

Nothing  further  of  moment  occurred,  so  far  as  Mr.  Clay  was 
concerned,  during  the  Session,  which  was  closed  by  adjourn 
ment  on  the  30th  of  September,  when  Mr.  Clay  returned  to  his 
home  in  Kentucky. 

The  limits  and  scope  of  this  work  would  not  justify  a  com 
plete  history  of  the  origin,  progress,  and  final  triumph,  of  the  so- 
called  Adjustment  or  Compromise  of  1850.  Our  task  in  this  place 
is  to  set  forth  the  agency  of  Mr.  Clay  in  effecting  that  Compro 
mise,  the  motives  by  which  he  was  governed,  and  the  objects  for 
which  he  struggled.  The  wisdom  of  his  views,  the  beneficence 
of  his  measures,  we  leave  to  time  and  the  sober  judgment  of  the 
country  and  of  mankind.  There  may  be  a  far-reaching  view  of  the 


DEVOTION    TO    THE    COMPROMISE.  355 

whole  subject  which  condemns  any  compromise,  however  equable 
as  a  purchase  of  present  tranquillity  at  the  expense  of  ultimate 
and  more  important  good.  Mr.  Clay,  though  never  justifying 
slavery  in  the  abstract,  nor  desiring  its  perpetuation,  much  less 
its  extension,  was  yet  a  slaveholder  and  the  representative  of 
slaveholders.  He  did  not,  therefore,  and  could  not  be  expected 
to,  regard  the  general  subject  as  it  was  regarded  by  determined 
and  uncompromising  opponents  of  slavery,  like  Seward,  Giddings. 
and  Horace  Mann.  But  whoever  believes  that  he  was  impelled 
to  devise  and  advocate  the  Compromise  by  devotion  to  slavery,  or 
a  desire  to  extend  its  dominion  and  power,  does  him  great  ip 
justice.  His  views  maybe  assailed  as  superficial  and  defective 
but  his  aims  were  unselfish,  patriotic,  and  national.  He  labored 
beyond  his  failing  strength  for  what  he  earnestly  deemed  the 
preservation  of  the  Union  and  the  welfare  of  his  beloved  country. 


XXXIV. 

THE    RIVER    AND    HARBOR    BILL    OF    1851. 

THE  thirty-first  Congress  commenced  its  second  session  on 
'he  second  day  of  December,  1850 ;  but  Mr.  Clay,  on  whom  the 
weight  of  years  began  to  press  heavily,  did  not  take  his  seat 
until  the  sixteenth  of  that  month.  The  session  was  mainly  de 
voted  to  routine  business,  in  which  he  took  little  part,  but  evinced, 
on  every  suitable  occasion,  a  pervading  anxiety  that  the  Com 
promise  measures  of  the  preceding  session  should  remain  undis 
turbed.  His  name  heads  a  list  of  forty-four  members  of  Congress, 
affixed  to  a  public  pledge  not  to  support  any  opponent  of  those 
measures,  of  whatever  party,  for  any  responsible  station  ;  and  he 
voted  uniformly  against  taking  into  consideration  any  memorials 
or  remonstrances  requiring  the  repeal  or  modification  of  any  of 
those  measures.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add,  that  a  large  ma 
jority  of  both  Houses  stood  with  him  on  this  point. 

He  also  evinced,  on  various  occasions,  an  anxious,  though  not 
importunate,  desire  for  a  revision  of  the  Tariff  of  1846,  to  the 


356  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAT. 

end  that  more  efficient  Protection  might  be  afforded  to  our  lan 
guishing  Manufactures.  In  presenting  some  petitions  for  such 
revision  (December  23,  1850),  he  said:  — 

"Mr.  President,  I  will  take  occasion  to  say  that  I  do  hope  that  now,  when 
there  is  an  apparent  calmness  upon  the  surface  of  public  affairs — which  I 
hope  is  real,  and  that  it  will  remain  without  disturbing  the  deliberations  of 
Congress  during  the  present  session — for  one,  I  should  be  extremely  delight 
ed  if  the  subject  of  the  Tariff  of  1846  could  be  taken  up  in  a  liberal,  kind, 
and  national  spirit;  not  with  any  purpose  of  reviving  those  high  rates  of 
Protection  which  at  former  periods  of  our  country  were  established  for 
various  causes,  sometimes  from  sinister  causes,  but  to  look  deliberately  at  the 
operations  of  the  Tariff  of  1846,  and,  without  disturbing  its  essential  pro 
visions,  I  should  like  a  consideration  to  be  given  to  the  question  of  the  pre 
vention  of  frauds  and  great  abuses,  of  the  existence  of  which  there  can  be 
no  earthly  doubt.  Whether  some  suitable  legislation  can  not  take  place  for 
that  purpose,  ought  to  be  deliberately  considered.  We  should  see  whether 
we  can  not,  without  injury,  without  prejudice  to  the  general  interests  of  the 
country,  give  some  better  Protection  to  the  Manufacturing  interests  than  is 
now  afforded. 

"The  fact  is  no  longer  doubtful  that  the  fires  are  extinguished  and  ex 
tinguishing  daily  in  the  furnaces  of  the  country.  The  fact  is  no  longer  doubt 
ful  that  the  spindles  and  looms  are  daily  stopping  in  the  country.  Whether 
it  is  possible  to  arrest  this  downward  course,  and  to  throw  a  little  spirit  of 
hope  and  encouragement  into  this  great  industrial  interest  without  agitating 
the  country  generally,  and  without  any  extravagance  of  legislation,  are 
questions,  I  think,  very  well  worthy  of  serious  consideration ;  and  I  hope, 
in  the  calm  which  we  are  at  present  allowed  to  enjoy  in  relation  to  other 
great  topics  which  have  so  long  and  so  disastrously  agitated  the  country, 
that,  at  some  early  period  during  the  present  cession,  this  subject  will  be 
taken  up  and  dealt  with  in  a  spirit  of  kindness,  and  harmony,  and  nation 
ality." 

On  the  19th  of  February,  the  bill  "  Making  Appropriations  for 
the  Improvement  of  certain  Harbors  and  Rivers,"  was  received 
by  the  Senate  from  the  House,  where  it  had  passed,  the  day  pre 
vious,  by  a  vote  of  103  to  87.  This  bill  was  reported  by  Hon. 
R.  M.  M'Lane,  of  Baltimore,  from  the  Standing  Committee  on 
Commerce,  amended,  on  his  motion,  in  Committee  of  the  Whole 
• — both  Committees,  as  well  as  the  House  itself,  having  a  *  Demo 
cratic'  majority,  who  had,  of  course,  full  powers  to  shape  the  bill 
as  they  saw  fit.  On  the  final  vote,  however,  about  three-fourths 
of  the  Yeas  were  given  by  Whigs,  while  all  the  Nays,  but  four  cy 
five,  were  Democrats.  The  bill,  having  thus  reached  the  Senate, 
was  referred  to  its  Committee  of  Commerce,  by  which  (February 
25)  it  was  reported  back  without  amendment.  Mr.  Davis  of 
Massachusetts,  in  reporting  it,  gave  notice  that  he  should,  at  an 
early  day,  call  it  up  for  consideration. 


RIVER    AND    HARBOR    IMPROVEMENTS.  357 

On  the  1st  of  March — there  being  but  three  days  of  the 
cssion  remaining  —  Mr.  Badger,  of  North  Carolina,  moved  the 
postponement  of  the  previous  orders  in  favor  of  taking  up  the 
River  and  Harbor  Bill.  This  motion  was  resisted  by  Messrs. 
Bradbury,  Borland,  Foote,  Hunter,  Rusk,  Turr  3y,  and  Atchison, 
all  strenuously  insisting  on  giving  precedence  to  various  other 
measures.  It  was  at  once  made  manifest  to  the  Senate,  that  the 
current  rumor  of  a  '  Democratic'  caucus  having  determined  that 
all  decisive  action  on  this  bill  should  be  staved  oft*  for  the  session, 
was  well  founded.  Mr.  Bradbury  moved  that  Mr.  Badger's 
motion  do  lie  on  the  table,  which  was  defeated  —  Yeas  23  ;  Nays 
30.  After  the  discussion  had  proceeded  long  enough  to  unmask 
the  game  of  the  Opposition,  Mr.  Clay  interposed  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  wish  to  say  one  or  two  words  only ;  I  hope  the  friends  of  the  bill — 
the  real  friends  of  the  bill — will  insist  upon  immediate  action ;  it  is  now  or 
never  for  the  bill.  If  we  should  take  up  the  Civil  and  Diplomatic  Appro 
priation  bill,  we  would  soon  have  the  Navy  bill  up,  then  the  Army  bill,  and 
this  bill  will  not  be  taken  up.  Sir,  there  is  time  enough  for  all,  if  we  would 
act  more  and  talk  less." 

The  motion  to  take  up  finally  prevailed — Yeas  31  ;  Nays  25 
—  and  the  debate  thereon  commenced.  Mr.  Davis  of  Massa 
chusetts,  in  opening  it,  only  said:  — 

"  I  am  requested  by  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  which  reported  this  bill, 
to  say  something  in  its  support ;  but,  in  the  present  state  of  business,  and  the 
extreme  pressure  of  time,  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  go  into  details  of  this 
measure  with  any  particular  explanation.  If  we  had  time  and  opportunity, 
I  should  do  it  witli  very  great  pleasure,  and  give  the  Senate  all  the  informa 
tion  in  my  power.  But  I  can  say,  generally,  that  these  appropriations  are 
spread,  I  believe,  over  the  entire  country,  and  they  amount  to  about  two 
millions  three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  This  amount  is  to  be  applied  to 
the  harbors  on  the  sea-coast  and  on  the  lakes,  and  to  the  rivers  of  the  in 
terior  ;  and  I  may  add  that  by  far  the  great  majority  of  them  apply  to 
works  that  have  been  long  since  commenced  by  the  government,  and  from 
time  to  time  carried  forward  by  appropriations.  Many  of  these  works  are 
now  out  of  repair,  and  the  country  expects  them  to  be  put  in  a  proper  con 
dition.  "With  these  remarks,  I  leave  the  subject  to  the  Senate." 

Mr.  Clemens,  of  Alabama,  commenced  the  Opposition  game  of 
moving  amendments,  proposing  to  restrict  the  application  of  the 
fifty  thousand  dollars  proposed  for  the  improvement  of  the  Ten 
nessee  to  a  certain  part  of  that  river.  Hereupon  Messrs.  Foote, 
Bright,  and  Hamlin,  made  speeches  against  the  bill  generally, 
or  against  particular  features  of  it.  Mr.  Clay,  in  reply,  went 
straight  to  the  heart  of  the  matter,  as  follows  :  — 


358  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"  There  are  three  modes  of  killing  a  bill.  One  is  by  meeting  it  boldly 
straightforward,  coming  up  to  the  mark,  and  rejecting  it.  Another  is  by 
amendments  upon  amendments,  trying  to  make  it  better  than  it  was.  Of 
course  I  do  not  speak  of  the  motives  of  Senators  in  offering  the  present 
amendments.  I  speak  of  the  effect,  which  is  just  as  certain,  if  these  amend 
ments  are  adopted,  as  if  the  bill  were  rejected  by  a  vote  against  its  passage. 
A  third  mode  is  to  speak  against  time  when  there  is  very  little  time  left. 

"Sir,  I  have  risen  to  say  to  the  friends  of  this  bill,  that  if  they  desire  it  to 
pass,  I  trust  they  will  vote  with  me  against  all  amendments,  and  come  to  as 
speedy  and  rapid  action  as  possible.  Under  the  idea  of  an  amendment,  you 
will  gain  nothing.  I  think  it  likely  there  are  some  items  that  should  not  be 
in  the  bill ;  and  can  you  expect  in  any  human  work,  where  there  are  forty 
or  fifty  items  to  be  passed  upon,  to  find  perfection  ?  If  you  do,  you  expect 
what  never  was  done,  and  what  you  will  never  see.  I  shall  vote  for  the 
bill  for  the  sake  of  the  good  that  is  in  it,  and  not  against  it  on  account  of 
the  bad  it  happens  to  contain.  I  am  willing  to  take  it  as  a  man  takes  his 
wife,  'for  better,  for  worse,'  believing  we  shall  be  much  more  happy  with 
it  than  without  it. 

'"  An  honorable  Senator  has  gotten  up  arid  told  us  that  here  is  an  appropria 
tion  of  $2,300,000.  Do  you  not  recollect  that  for  the  last  four  or  five  years 
there  have  been  no  appropriations  at  all  upon  this  subject?  Look  at  the 
ordinary  appropriation  in  1837  of  $1,307,000;  for  it  is  a  most  remarkable 
fact  that  those  Administrations  most  hostile  to  the  doctrine  of  Internal  Im 
provements  have  been  precisely  those  in  which  the  most  lavish  expenditures 
have  been  made.  Thus  we  are  told,  this  morning,  that  there  were  five,  six, 
or  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  during  Gen.  Jackson's  administration,  and 
$1,300,00  during  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's.  ISTow,  there  has  been 
no  appropriation  during  the  last  three  or  four  years,  and,  in  consequence  of 
this  delinquency  and  neglect  on  the  part  of  Congress  heretofore,  because 
some  $2,300,000  are  to  be  appropriated  by  this  bill,  we  are  to  be  startled  by 
the  financial  horrors  and  difficulties  which  have  been  presented,  and  driven 
from  the  duty  which  we  ought  to  pursue.  With  regard  to  the  appropria 
tions  made  for  that  portion  of  the  country  from  which  I  come — the  great 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi — I  will  say  that  we  are  a  reasoning  people,  a  feel 
ing  people,  and  a  contrasting  people ;  and  how  long  will  it  be  before  the 
people  of  this  vast  valley  will  rise  en  masse  and  trample  down  your  little 
hair-splitting  distinctions  about  what  is  national,  and  demand  what  is 
just  and  fair,  on  the  part  of  this  Government,  in  relation  to  their  great  in 
terests  ?  The  Mississippi,  with  all  its  tributaries — the  Red,  Wabash,  Arkansas, 
Tennessee,  and  Ohio  rivers — constitute  a  part  of  a  great  system,  and  if  that 
system  be  not  national,  I  should  like  to  know  one  that  is  national.  We  are 
told  here  that  a  little  work,  great  in  its  value,  one  for  which  I  shall  vote 
with  great  pleasure — the  breakwater  in  the  little  State  of  Delaware — is  a  great 
national  work,  while  a  work  which  has  for  its  object  the  improvement  of  that 
vast  system  of  rivers  which  constitute  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  which 
is  to  save  millions  and  millions  of  property  and  many  human  lives,  is  not  a 
work  to  be  done,  because  it  is  not  national !  Why,  look  at  the  appropria 
tions.  Here  was  our  young  sister,  California,  admitted  but  the  other  day ; 
$1,500,000  for  a  basin  there  to  improve  her  facilities,  and  how  much  more 
for  Custom-houses?  Four  or  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  more  in  that 
single  State  for  two  objects  than  the  totality  of  the  sum  proposed  to  be  ap 
propriated  here.  Around  the  margin  of  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic,  the 
Mexican  Gulf,  and  the  Pacific  coast,  everywhere  we  pour  out,  in  boundless 
*nd  unmeasured  streams,  the  treasure  of  the  United  States,  but  none  to  the 


RIVER    AND    HARBOR    BILL.  359 

interior  of  the  West,  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  every  cent  is  contested 
and  denied  for  that  object.  Will  not  our  people  draw  the  contrast?  Talk 
about  commerce!  we  have  all  sorts  of  commerce.  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  the  domestic  commerce  of  the  Lakes  and  the  Valley  of  the  Mis* 
sissippi,  is  greatly  superior  in  magnitude  and  importance  to  all  the  foreign 
commerce  of  the  country,  for  which  these  vast  expenditures  are  made.  Sir, 
I  call  upon  the  Northwestern  Senators,  upon  Western  Senators,  upon  Eastern 
Senators,  upon  Senators  from  all  quarters  of  the  Union,  to  recollect  that  we 
are  parts  of  one  common  country,  and  that  we  can  not  endure  to  see,  from 
month  to  month,  from  day  to  day,  in  consequence  of  the  existence  of  snags 
in  the  Mississippi,  which  can  be  removed  at  a  trifling  expense,  hundreds  of 
lives  and  millions  of  property  destroyed,  in  consequence  of  the  destruction 
of  the  boats  navigating  these  rivers,  for  the  want  of  some  little  application 
of  the  means  of  our  common  government. 

"  I  do  not  say  that  these  people  will  be  driven  to  any  great  and  important 
action,  threatening  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  No,  sir  ;  they  will  stand  by 
this  Union  under  all  circumstances;  they  will  support  it,  they  will  defend 
it,  they  will  fly  anywhere  and  everywhere  to  support  it ;  but  they  will  not 
endure  much  longer  this  partial,  limited,  exclusive  appropriation  of  the  pub 
lic  revenue  of  the  country  to  this  mere  margin  of  the  country,  without  doing 
anything  for  that  interior  which  equals  nearly,  if  it  does  not  entirely  con 
stitute  a  moiety,  of  the  population  of  the  country. 

"Mr.  President,  I  have  been  drawn  into  these  remarks  very  irregularly, 
I  admit.  I  am  delighted  to  see  some  of  my  Democratic  friends  breaking  the 
miserable  trammels  of  party.  Nationality !  Is  not  that  a  national  improve 
ment  which  contributes  to  the  national  power,  whether  the  improvement 
be  in  the  little  State  of  Delaware,  or  in  the  great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi 
river  ?  What  makes  it  harder,  especially  in  regard  to  the  Mississippi  river, 
is,  that  from  the  vast  body  of  water  it  is  impossible  to  make  any  great 
national  improvement.  All  that  can  be  done  is  to  make  small  annual 
improvements,  by  clearing  out  trees  from  that  great  national  highway,  to 
take  up  the  annual  snags  which  form  themselves  in  the  river.  It  requires 
constant  and  incessant  application  of  means  in  order  to  keep  the  stream 
clear.  I  have  been  drawn  into  these  observations  contrary  to  any  purpose 
I  had.  Here  is  the  measure  before  us.  If  gentlemen  choose  to  exhaust  the 
remainder  of  the  session  in  useless  amendments,  the  effect  of  which  is  to 
destroy  the  bill ;  if  they  choose  to  exhaust  the  session  in  speeches  made  from 
time  to  time,  let  them  not  charge  us  with  defeating  the  appropriation  bill. 
We  are  ready — for  one,  I  am  ready — to  pass  upon  it  item  by  item,  and 
then  take  up  the  appropriation  bill  and  do  the  same  thing  with  regard 
to  it." 

The  debate  was  continued,  almost  entirely  by  opponents  of  the 
bill,  throughout  the  day  and  evening.  Mr.  Clemens's  amendment 
was  adopted  in  committee,  by  a  vote  of  27  to  23,  but  afterward 
stricken  out  upon  consideration  that  any  amendment  to  the  bill, 
which  would  send  it  back  to  the  House  at  that  late  hour  of  the 
session,  would  inevitably  defeat  it.  Gen.  Cass  made  a  long 
speech  in  exposition  of  his  views  on  the  general  subject  ;  but, 
though  there  was  very  little  "  noise  and  confusion"  prevailing  in 
the  Senate,  the  obscurity  previously  shrouding  his  ideas  of  River 


360  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

and  Harbor  ^improvement  was  not  dispelled  by  it.  Mr.  Downs, 
of  Louisiana,  moved  that  the  bill  be  laid  on  the  table  ;  which 
motion  was  rejected — Yeas  23  ;  Nays  34.  Various  motions  to 
amend,  to  adjourn,  &c.,  were  voted  down;  but  finally,  it  being 
late  on  Saturday  night,  the  majority  were  wearied  into  an  ad 
journment —  Mr.  Cass  making  the  motion  on  the  ground  that  it 
was  now  the  Sabbath.  The  motion  prevailed,  by  a  vote  of 
twenty-nine  to  twenty-five. 

Monday  was  the  last  day  of  the  session,  and  the  Senate  met 
at  10  A.  M.,  at  the  earliest  moment.  Mr.  Clay  said: — 

"Mr.  President,  I  rise  to  make  a  motion  to  dispense  with  the  morning 
business,  and  previous  orders,  in  order  to  proceed  with  the  unfinished  busi 
ness  which  was  left  in  that  state  on  Saturday  last ;  and,  while  I  am  up,  I 
beg  leave,  not  to  make  a  speech — for  I  should  consider  him  worthy  of  almost 
any  punishment  who  should  make  a  speech  on  this  day — but  to  say  it  is 
manifest  to  the  Senate,  and  to  the  country,  that  there  is  a  majority  in  this 
body  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  that  bill ;  and  I  wish  to  appeal  to  the  justice, 
to  the  generosity,  to  the  fairness  of  the  minority,  to  say  whether  they  will, 
if  they  have  the  power — as  I  know  they  have  the  power — defeat  the  bill  by 
measures  of  delay,  and  procrastination  ?  If  they  are  determined  to  do  it, 
although  such  a  determination  is  incompatible  with  the  genius  of  all  free 
governments,  and  I  should  hope,  also,  incompatible  with  the  sense  of  pro 
priety  which  each  individual  member  must  feel — if  there  is  a  determination 
upon  the  part  of  the  minority  to  defeat  the  bill,  by  measures  to  which  they 
have  the  power  to  resort,  but  I  am  loth  to  believe  they  would  use — if  there 
is  such  a  determination,  and  they  will  avow  it,  for  one,  as  I  think  it  of  the 
utmost  importance  that  great  measures  connected  with  the  operations  and 
continuance  of  the  Government — measures  of  appropriation — should  be 
adopted,  notwithstanding  the  pain  which  I  should  feel  in  being  obliged  to 
Bubmit  to  the  action  of  a  minority,  intending  to  defeat  the  will  of  a  majority 
— if  such  is  the  avowed  purpose,  I  will  myself  vote  for  the  laying  this  bill 
upon  the  table.  I  hope  there  will  be  no  such  purpose.  I  trust  that  we 
shall  take  up  the  bill  and  vote  upon  it;  and  I  implore  its  friends,  if  they 
desire  to  pass  it,  to  say  not  one  word,  but  come  to  the  vote  upon  it." 

Mr.  Clay  paused,  but  no  member  of  the  minority  would  avow 
the  conspiracy  which  had  really  been  formed  to  defeat  the  bill 
by  talking  against  time,  insidious  propositions  of  amendment, 
and  all  manner  of  side-blows.  Although  that  minority  had 
already  wasted  many  hours  in  reading  old  reports  and  discussing 
irrelevant  propositions  with  no  other  purpose  than  that  of  pre 
venting  any  decisive  action  on  the  bill,  yet  they  did  not  scruple 
to  complain  of  a  want  of  time  for  properly  considering  this  sub 
ject,  and  on  that  ground  demanded  that  the  bill  be  given  up  by 
its  friends.  Mr.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  opened  by  urging  the  ne- 


RUSK    AGAINST    DODGING.  361 

oessity  of  action  on  the  general  appropriation  bills  and  arguing 
that  it  was  not  fair  for  a  majority  to  press  bills  of  this  nature  just 
at  the  close  of  the  session.  The  fact  that  the  Senate  had  wasted 
time  in  the  discussion  of  other  measures  was  cited  by  him  to 
prove  that  no  time  remained  for  the  consideration  of  this.  Mr. 
Focte,  of  Mississippi,  declaimed  against  reckless  legislation, 
saying:— 

"I  should  deem  myself  criminal  in  the  highest  degree,  if  I  did  not  use  all 
the  means  within  my  reach,  of  preventing  hasty  legislation  upon  such  a 
subject." 

Messrs.  Butler,  Gwin,  and  Bradbury,  also  evinced  a  determi 
nation  to  persist  in  the  tactics  whereby  the  passage  of  the  bill 
had  hitherto  been  impeded.  Mr.  Rusk,  of  Texas,  however,  took 
a  different  view,  which  we  will  present  in  his  own  words  : — 

"  Mr.  President,  I  desire  to  say  only  a  very  few  words,  and  not  with  & 
view  of  delaying  action  on  this  bill.  If  we  were  within  the  last  hour  of  the 
session,  instead  of  within  the  last  twenty-four,  believing,  as  I  do,  that  there 
is  a  majority  of  the  Senate  in  favor  of  this  bill,  I  would  not  obstruct  its 
passage.  Four  years  ago,  I  laid  down  the  principles  upon  which  I  intend 
to  act.  When  I  find  that  there  is  a  clear  and  express  majority  in  favor  of 
any  measure,  however  much  I  may  condemn  it — and,  by  the  way,  the 
objects  of  this  bill  I  do  not  condemn — I  will  not  vote  to  do  indirectly  what 
I  cannot  constitutionally  do  directly.  If  the  majority  choose  to  assume  the 
responsibility  of  passing  what  I  conceive  to  be  a  mischievous  measure,  upon 
them  let  it  rest  But  I  must  say,  with  great  deference  to  older  Senators  who 
have  moved  in  this  matter,  that  I  think  they  have  taken  the  wrong  course. ' 

Having  listened  to  the  objections  of  Senators,  Mr.  Clay 
said : — 

"  I  at  least  will  not  be  guilty  of  losing  this  or  any  other  measure  by 
speaking  to-day.     I  have  risen  simply  to  call  for  the  Yeas  and  Nays  on  the 
motion,  and  if  there  be  really  a  majority  against  the  bill  in  its  present  shape, 
hope  they  will  lay  it  on  the  table." 

The  Yeas  and  Nays  were  ordered  :  the  River  and  Harbor  bill 
was  again  taken  up  —  Yeas  30,  Nays  25  —  and  the  fire  of  oppo 
sition,  under  the  guise  of  propositions  of  amendment,  recom 
menced.  All  were  voted  down,  as  was  a  proposition  by  Mr. 
Foote  to  lay  the  bill  on  the  table.  A  proviso  moved  by  Mr. 
Bradbury,  modified  by  Mr.  Cass,  which  would  have  virtually 
nullified  the  bill,  was  offered  in  the  following  words  :  — 

"And  it  is  hereby  expressly  provided  that  the  appropriations  in  this  bill 
•entained  shall  take  effect  upon,  and  authorize  the  expenditure  of  only  such 
P 


362  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

surplus  or  excess,  as  shall  remain  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  after 
deducting  from  the  public  revenues  the  sums  necessary  to  meet  the  appro 
priations  that  have  been  or  shall  be  made  by  Congress,  to  execute  existing 
laws,  and  liquidate  private  claims." 

This  proposition  was  defeated  by  a  tie  vote,  as  follows : — 

YEAS — Messrs.  Atchison,  Berrien,  Bradbury,  Bright,  Butler,  Cass,  Clemens, 
Jefferson  Davis  of  Miss.,  Dawson,  Dickinson,  Douglas,  Downs,  Felch,  Foote, 
Gwin,  Hamlin,  Houston,  Hunter,  Wm.  R.  King,  Mason,  Morton,  Norris, 
Ilhett,  Rusk,  Soulo,  Sturgeon,  Turney,  Whitcomb  and  Yulee — 29. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Badger,  Baldwin,  Bell,  Borland,  Chase,  Clarke,  Clay, 
Cooper,  John  Davis  of  Mass.,  Dodge  of  Wis.,  Dodge  of  Iowa,  Ewing,  Greene, 
Hale,  Jones,  Mangum,  Miller,  Pearce,  Pratt,  Rantoul,  Sebastian,  Seward, 
Shields,  Smith,  Spruance,  Underwood,  Upham,  Wales,  and  "Walker — 29. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  while  a  decided  majority  of  the  Sen 
ate  were  professedly  favorable  to  the  bill,  some  of  them  through 
a  salutary  fear  of  their  constituents,  yet  one-half  of  all  the  mem 
bers  present  were  ready  to  paralyze  its  operation  by  voting  in  a 
proviso  which  would  have  precluded  any  action  under  it  during 
the  ensuing  fiscal  year ;  since  it  could  not  possibly  be  determined, 
until  the  close  of  the  year,  whether  there  would,  or  would  not 
be  the  requisite  surplus  in  the  Treasury. 

But  the  bill  just  escaped  this  side-blow,  and  the  game  of  pro 
posing  amendments  to  hang  speeches  upon  and  waste  time,  was 
resumed.  An  attempt  to  take  a  recess  for  dinner  was  made  and 
defeated ;  a  clause  in  the  bill  appropriating  $25,700  "  for  the 
removal  of  the  obstructions  in  the  Rio  Grande  river,  Texas,"  was 
desperately  assailed  as  an  encroachment  on  the  joint  sovereignty 
of  Mexico  over  the  snags,  reefs,  and  sandbanks,  to  be  found  in 
ihat  river.  But  the  Senate  refused  to  amend.  About  8  P.  M. 
of  this  last  night  of  the  session,  Mr.  Soule,  of  Louisiana,  moved 
to  insert  as  follows  : — 

"For  deepening  the  passes  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  river,  $130,000 ;" 

And  on  this,  after  making  a  speech,  he  sent  to  the  clerk's 
desk  an  elaborate  report  of  a  survey  of  the  mouths  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  which  he  insisted  on  having  read ;  and  on  this  an  hour 
of  precious  time  was  consumed  with  a  manifest  intent  of  wearing 
out  the  patience  of  the  Senate.  Finally,  Mr.  Phelps,  of  Ver 
mont,  moved  to  dispense  with  the  further  reading,  and  on  this 
an  hour  more  was  wasted,  in  the  course  of  which  Mr.  Clay 
said:— 


RIVER    AND    HARBOR    BILL    LOST.  363 

"  I  came  to  the  Senate  this  morning,  and  I  said  that  I  would  move  to  take 
up  the  bill  now  under  consideration  ;  but  that  if  the  minority  who  oppose 
the  bill  would  say  that,  in  the  exercise  of  their  parliamentary  rights,  they 
intended  to  resist  to  the  utmost  its  passage,  I  would  not  insist  upon  it.  I 
wanted  an  avowal ;  no  such  avowal  was  made.  We  have  gone  on  to  this 
time,  and  in  what  manner,  the  journal  of  our  proceedings  will  show.  The 
question  which  this  day's  proceedings  presents  is,  whether  the  majority  or 
the  minority  shall  govern.  JSTo  one  has  attempted  to  deprive  the  minority 
of  any  rights  appertaining  to  them.  I  hope  the  other  portion  of  this  body, 
the  majority,  have  their  rights  also,  and  the  great  question,  that  question 
which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  free  institutions  is,  whether  the  majority  or 
the  minority  shall  govern  ?  Upon  the  issue  of  that  question,  I,  for  one,  am 
ready  to  go  before  the  country  and  abide  their  decision." 

The  debate  still  went  on,  another  motion  to  lay  the  bill  on  the 
table  was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  33  to  23 ;  and  finally  the  question 
of  stopping  the  farther  reading  of  Mr.  Soule's  report  was  reached 
and  decided  in  the  affirmative  —  Yeas  27,  Nays  19.  Then  more 
speeches,  and  another  proposition  to  postpone,  which  was  voted 
down ;  and  more  speeches  again,  of  which  the  burthen  was  the 
tyranny  of  the  majority  in  not  allowing  any  amendments  to  pre 
vail,  though  every  Senator  knew  that  any  amendment,  however 
trifling,  would  defeat  the  bill ;  as  its  adoption  would  send  it  back 
to  the  House,  where  one-third  could  arrest  it  by  objecting  to  a 
suspension  of  the  rules  in  favor  of  taking  it  up. 

Thus,  with  more  speeches  and  more  amendments,  the  time  was 
worried  away  until  midnight.  That  hour  afforded  a  pretext  for 
a  new  discussion  as  to  the  right  of  the  Senate  to  sit  longer,  and 
the  validity  of  its  acts  in  case  it  should  do  so,  in  which  another 
hour  was  consumed.  This  interlude  closed,  as  every  one  knew 
it  must,  by  the  Senate  resolving  that  each  Congress  has  a  right 
to  sit  and  act  until  noon  on  the  4th  of  March,  or  for  two  full 
years  from  the  commencement  of  its  legal  powers  ;  but  by  this 
time  Mr.  Clay,  bending  beneath  the  weight  of  years,  and  worn 
out  with  severe  and  protracted  labor,  perceiving  that  the  bill  was 
inevitably  lost,  had  left  the  Senate  for  the  night.  Finally,  after 
dragging  on  till  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  the  minority 
successfully  resisting  every  effort  to  reach  a  decisive  vote,  the 
bill  was  postponed  (Yeas  29,  Nays  19)  to  8  o'clock,  in  order  to 
take  up  and  pass  the  appropriation  bills. 

At  the  hour  of  eight,  Mr.  Clay  was  in  his  seat,  ready  for  ac 
tion,  though  many  younger  and  stronger  men  were  absent.  But 
so  much  time  was  consumed  in  the  passage  of  the  appropriation 


364  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

bills  that  the  River  and  Harbor  bill  could  not  be  taken  ;.p.  It 
lay  dead  on  the  table,  having  been  defeated  by  the  most  unscru 
pulous  exercise  of  the  power  granted  to  minorities  in  legislative 
bodies  for  the  protection  of  their  right  of  discussion,  with  no 
intent  that  the  will  of  a  majority  should  thereby  be  frustrated. 
And  yet,  in  this  case,  for  the  sake  of  screening  three  or  four 
Democratic  aspirants  to  the  Presidency  from  voting  on  a  meas 
ure  with  regard  to  which  the  dogmas  of  the  South  and  the  in- 
erests  of  the  West  came  in  direct  collision ;  the  precious  time 
of  the  Senate  was  recklessly  wasted,  and  other  measures  of  vital 
importance  either  wholly  defeated,  or  driven  through  with  a  haste 
which  precluded  even  their  reading  in  the  Senate,  though  mil 
lions  were  voted  away  by  them. 

The  effort  to  pass  the  River  and  Harbor  bill  was  the  last  earn 
est  Legislative  struggle  in  which  Mr.  Clay  was  ever  engaged. 
Though  seventy-four  years  of  age  and  not  a  member  of  the  Com 
mittee  by  which  the  bill  was  reported,  he  took  his  place  natur 
ally,  and  by  sheer  force  of  character,  at  the  head  of  the  majority 
in  that  memorable  though  fruitless  struggle.  '  His  eye  was  not 
dim,  neither  was  his  natural  force  abated ;'  and  the  spectator 
could  not  fail  to  admire  the  chivalry  of  nature  and  gallantry  of 
bearing  wherewith  he  led  the  charge  against  the  strong  abattis 
of  parliamentary  privilege  wherewith  the  minority  had  so  for 
midably  entrenched  themselves.  Though  the  Whig  party  num 
bered  far  less  than  half  the  Senate,  yet  on  this  question  a  clear 
majority  were  constrained  to  range  themselves  under  his  ban 
ner  ;  and  there  was  something  impressive  in  the  manner  where 
with  Mr.  Clay  spoke  of  "  We  of  the  majority"  desiring  such  and 
such  action,  and  exhorted  "  you  of  the  minority"  to  desist  from 
unmanly  bush-fighting,  and  allow  the  majority  to  pass  the  bill.  I 
doubt  whether  there  ever  was  an  intelligent  and  independent 
legislative  assembly  whereof  Mr.  Clay,  being  a  member,  would 
not  in  time  have  won  a  majority  to  his  side — not,  perhaps,  in  party 
designation,  but  in  substance  and  practice.  He  led  because  he 
instinctively  perceived  and  chose  the  right  path,  in  which  the 
greater  number  could  not  choose  but  follow.  And  it  was  well 
that  the  last  determined  effort  of  the  Great  Commoner  should  be 
made  in  behalf  of  that  cause  which  had  so  warmly  enlisted  his 


JHP 


CONSTRUCTIVG    MILEAGE.  365 

youthful  energies,  and  in  whose  advocacy  he  had  first  become 
known  to  the  Nation.  More  than  forty  years  had  now  elapsed 
since  the  then  youthful  Senator  from  Kentucky  had  proposed  a 
deliberate,  persistent,  and  systematic  devotion  of  a  portion  of  the 
Federal  Revenues  to  the  beneficent  work  of  internal  improve 
ment  ;  and  it  was  fit  that  the  last  echo  of  his  trumpet  voice 
should  resound  through  that  same  chamber  in  unwavering,  un 
dying  devotion  to  that  same  great  and  good  cause.  The  stag, 
long  hunted,  had  returned  to  his  native  heath  to  die  ;  and  the 
baying  hounds  cowered  before  the  glance  of  his  flashing  eye 
until  it  closed  In  death. 


XXXV. 

RESPONSE    TO    KOSSUTH ILLNESS    AND    DEATH. 

A  BRIEF  Called  Session  of  the  Senate  was  held  from  and  after 
the  close  of  the  regular  Session  of  Congress  to  dispose  of  a  large 
amount  of  executive  business  which  had  accumulated  during  the 
regular  Session,  and  been  left  over  at  its  close  unacted  on.  For 
attending  this  Called  Session,  twenty-four  of  the  Senators  re 
ceived  what  is  termed  '  Constructive  Mileage,'  or  the  legal 
allowance  for  traveling  expenses  as  though  they  had  severally 
repaired  to  their  distant  homes  and  returned  again  to  Washing 
ton,  between  the  close  of  the  Regular  Session  on  the  3d  of 
March,  and  the  opening  of  the  Called  Session  on  the  following 
day.  The  amount  thus  abstracted  from  the  Treasury,  as  for  a 
service  never  rendered,  an  expense  never  incurred,  was  in  all 
about  $40,000,  of  which  over  $5,000  fell  to  the  share  of  Senator 
Gwin,  of  California,  while  other  Senators  from  the  remoter  States 
received  from  Fifteen  Hundred  to  Three  Thousand  dollars  each. 
Mr.  King,  of  Alabama,  who,  as  President  of  the  Senate,  certified 
the  correctness  of  these  accounts,  did  not  himself  accept  the 
Constructive  Mileage. 

Mr.  Clay,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  utterly  and  disdainfully  re 
fused  it,  as  did  about  half  of  the  Senators  holding  over.  Ever 
since  the  practice  of  charging  Constructive  Mileage  had  existed, 
Mr.  Clay  had  been  open  and  thorough  in  his  denunciations  of 


366  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

it.  When  an  attempt  was  made  in  the  Senate  to  reject  the 
nomination  of  Elisha  Whittlesey  as  a  Controller  of  the  Treasury, 
because  of  Mr.  Whittlesey's  disallowance  of  the  charges  of  Con- 
.  structive  Mileage  in  passing  the  accounts  of  the  Senate's  Secre 
tary,  Dickins,  in  1849,  Mr.  Clay  met  the  attempt  with  the  most 
determined  resistance.  No  man  was  ever  more  scrupulously 
and  inflexibly  honest  in  his  charges  against  the  Treasury. 
While  other  Members  of  Congress,  even  those  accounted  most 
upright  and  unselfish,  had  increased  their  charge  for  Mileage  as 
'  the  usually  traveled  route'  from  their  several  homes  to  Wash 
ington  was  considerably  extended  by  the  substitution  of  steam 
boat  conveyance  by  devious  rivers  for  the  more  direct,  but  far 
slower  and  more  expensive,  staging  of  former  days,  Mr.  Clay 
had  steadily  refused  to  profit  thus  by  the  law's  imperfection. 
He  saw  no  reason  for  increasing  his  charge  of  Mileage  some 
fifty  to  one  hundred  per  cent,  in  the  fact  that  he  could  now  reach 
Washington  more  cheaply  and  expeditiously  by  taking  a  longer 
route  than  he  had  formerly  been  able  to  do  by  a  direct  one. 
Other  Statesmen,  more  popular  and  successful  than  he,  did  not 
hesitate  to  take  all  that  a  liberal  construction  of  the  law  would 
give  them,  and  even  add  to  that  the  proceeds  of  Constructive 
Mileage  ;  but  their  example  had  no  influence,  their  impunity  no 
temptation,  for  Henry  Clay. 

Mr.  Clay  returned  to  his  home  on  being  released  from  his 
public  duties  at  Washington,  and  remained  there  through  the 
Summer,  in  delicate,  though  not  yet  broken,  health ;  enjoying, 
for  him,  an  unsual  measure  of  quiet,  and  devoting  himself  mainly 
to  his  family,  his  rural  pursuits,  and  a  serene  contemplation  of 
and  preparation  for  the  great  change  now  manifestly  approach 
ing  Once  during  the  Autumn  he  addressed  an  elaborate  letter 
to  his  friends  in  New- York,  in  reply  to  one  from  them,  urging 
therein  the  duty  of  sustaining  the  Compromise  in  all  its  parts, 
and  endeavoring  to  calm  the  agitation  respecting  Slavery,  which 
had  so  recently  threatened  the  harmony  if  not  the  existence  of 
our  Union.  This  was  almost,  if  not  quite,  the  only  occasion 
during  the  season  wherein  he  was  induced  to  break  the  silence 
which  had  i  ow  become  so  grateful  to  him. 


FAILING    HEALTH KOSSUTH.  887 

The  opening  of  the  second  session  of  the  XXXIId  Congress 
found  him  again  in  Washington,  but  unable  to  take  his  seat  in 
the  Senate.  In  fact,  none  other  than  a  Patriot  accustomed  to 
think  only  of  his  country  arid  his  duty  would  have  left  home  in 
his  state  of  health  for  a  distant  field  of  arduous  public  eflbrt. 
Learning  from  others  how  ill  and  feeble  he  was,  I  had  not  in 
tended  to  call  upon  him,  and  remained  two  days  under  the  same 
roof  without  asking  permission  to  do  so.  Meantime,  however, 
he  was  casually  informed  of  my  being  in  Washington,  and  sent 
me  a  request  to  call  at  his  room.  I  did  so,  and  enjoyed  a  half 
hour's  free  and  friendly  conversation  with  him,  the  saddest  and 
the  last !  His  state  was  even  worse  than  I  had  feared ;  he  was 
already  emaciated,  a  prey  to  a  severe  and  distressing  cough,  and 
complained  of  spells  of  difficult  breathing.  I  think  no  physician 
could  have  judged  him  likely  to  live  two  months  longer.  Yet 
his  mind  was  unclouded  and  brilliant  as  ever,  his  aspirations 
for  his  country's  welfare  as  ardent ;  and,  though  all  personal  am 
bition  had  long  been  banished,  his  interest  in  the  events  and  im 
pulses  of  the  day  was  nowise  diminished.  He  listened  atten 
tively  to  all  I  had  to  say  of  the  repulsive  aspects  and  revolting 
features  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  and  the  necessary  tendency 
of  its  operation  to  excite  hostility  and  alienation  on  the  part  of  our 
Northern  people,  unaccustomed  to  Slavery,  and  seeing  it  exem 
plified  only  in  the  brutal  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  some  hum 
ble  and  inoffensive  negro  whom  they  had  learned  to  regard  as  a 
neighbor.  I  think  I  may  without  impropriety  say  that  Mr.  Clay 
regretted  that  more  care  had  not  been  taken  in  its  passage  to 
divest  this  act  of  features  needlessly  repulsive  to  Northern  senti 
ment,  though  he  did  not  deem  any  change  in  its  provisions  now 
practicable. 

Four  or  five  weeks  afterward,  Louis  Kossuth  visited  Wash 
ington,  in  compliance  with  the  official  invitation,  and  in  due  time 
paid  his  respects  personally  to  Mr.  Clay,  still  confined  to  his 
sick  chamber ;  when,  after  the  mutual  interchange  of  civilities, 
Mr.  Clay  said  : — 

"I  owe  you,  sir,  an  apology  for  not  having  acceded  before  to  the  desire 
you  were  kind  enough  to  intimate  more  than  once  to  see  me ;  but,  really, 
my  health  has  been  so  feeble  that  I  did  not  dare  to  hazard  the  excitement 
of  BO  interesting  an  interview.  Besides,  sir  (he  added,  vUh  some  plea*- 


368  LIFE    OF    HENRY"    CLAY. 

antry),  your  wonderful  and  fascinating  eloquence  lias  mesmerized  so  large 
a  portion  of  our  people  wherever  you  have  gone,  and  even  some  of  our 
members  of  Congress  (waving  his  hand  toward  the  two  or  three  gentlemen 
who  were  present),  that  I  feared  to  come  tinder  its  influence,  lest  you  might 
shake  my  faith  in  some  principles  in  regard  to  the  foreign  policy  of  this 
government,  which  I  have  long  and  constantly  cherished. 

"  And  in  regard  to  this  matter  you  will  allow  me,  I  hope,  to  speak  with 
that  sincerity  and  candor  which  becomes  the  interest  the  subject  has  for 
you  and  for  myself,  and  which  is  due  to  us  both,  as  the  votaries  of  free 
dom. 

"  I  trust  you  will  believe  me,  too,  when  I  tell  you  that  I  entertain  the 
liveliest  sympathies  in  every  struggle  for  liberty  in  Hungary,  and  in  every 
country,  and  in  this  I  believe  I  express  the  universal  sentiment  of  my  coun 
trymen.  But,  sir,  for  the  sake  of  my  country,  you  must  allow  me  to  pro 
test  against  the  policy  you  propose  to  her.  Waiving  the  grave  and 
momentous  question  of  the  right  of  one  nation  to  assume  the  executive  pow 
er  among  nations  for  the  enforcement  of  international  law,  or  of  the  right 
of  the  United  States  to  dictate  to  Russia  the  character  of  her  relations  with 
the  nations  around  her,  let  us  come  at  once  to  the  practical  consideration 
of  the  matter. 

"You  tell  us  yourself,  with  great  truth  and  propriety,  that  mere  sym 
pathy,  or  the  expression  of  sympathy,  can  not  advance  your  purposes.  You 
require  'material  aid.'  And  indeed  it  is  manifest  that  the  mere  declara 
tions  of  the  sympathy  of  Congress,  or  of  the  President,  or  of  the  public, 
would  be  of  little  avail,  unless  we  were  prepared  to  enforce  those  declara 
tions  by  a  resort  to  arms,  and  unless  other  nations  could  see  that  prepara 
tion  and  determination  upon  our  part. 

"  Well,  sir,  suppose  that  war  should  be  the  issue  of  the  course  you  pro 
pose  to  us.  Could  we  then  effect  anything  for  you,  ourselves,  or  the  cause 
of  liberty?  To  transport  men  and  arms  across  the  ocean  in  sufficient  num 
bers  and  quantities  to  be  effective  against  Russia  and  Austria  would  be  im 
possible.  It  is  a  fact  which  perhaps  may  not  be  generally  known,  that  the 
most  imperative  reason  with  Great  Britain  for  the  close  of  her  last  war 
with  us,  was  the  immense  cost  of  the  transportation  and  maintenance  of 
forces  and  munitions  of  war  in  such  a  distant  theatre,  and  yet  she  had  not 
perhaps  more  than  30,000  men  upon  this  continent  at  any  time.  Upon 
land,  Russia  is  invulnerable  to  us,  as  we  are  to  her.  Upon  the  ocean,  a 
war  between  Russia  and  this  country  would  result  in  mutual  annoyance 
to  commerce,  but  probably  in  little  else.  I  learn  recently  that  her  war 
marine  is  superior  to  that  of  any  nation  in  Europe,  except  perhaps  Great 
Britain.  Her  ports  are  few,  her  commerce  limited,  while  we,  on  our  part, 
would  offer  as  a  prey  to  her  cruisers  a  rich  and  extensive  commerce. 

"Thus,  sir,  after  effecting  nothing  in  such  a  war,  after  abandoning  our 
ancient  policy  of  amity  and  non-intervention  in  the  affairs  of  other  nations, 
and  thus  justifying  them  in  abandoning  the  terms  of  forbearance  and  non 
interference  which  they  have  hitherto  preserved  toward  us;  after  the 
downfall,  perhaps,  of  the  friends  of  liberal  institutions  in  Europe,  her  des 
pots,  imitating  and  provoked  by  our  fatal  example,  may  turn  upon  us  in  the 
hour  of  our  weakness  and  exhaustion,  and,  with  an  almost  equally  irresis 
tible  force  of  reason  and  of  arms,  they  may  say  to  us,  '  You  have  set  us  the 
example.  You  have  quit  your  own  to  stand  on  foreign  ground ;  you  have 
abandoned  the  policy  you  professed  in  the  day  of  your  weakness,  to  inter 
fere  in  the  affairs  of  the  people  upon  this  continent,  in  behalf  of  those  prm 
ciples,  the  supremacv  of  which  you  say  is  necessary  to  your  prosperity,  to 


INTERVENTION THE    PRESIDENCY.  309 

jour  existence.  "We,  in  our  own  turn,  believing  that  your  anarchical  doc 
trines  are  destructive  of,  and  that  monarchical  principles  are  essential  to 
the  peace,  security,  and  happiness  of  our  subjects,  will  obliterate  the  bed 
which  has  nourished  such  noxious  weeds :  we  will  crush  you  as  the  propa 
gandists  of  doctrines  so  destructive  of  the  peace  and  good  order  of  the 
world.' 

"  The  indomitable  spirit  of  our  people  might  and  would  be  equal  to  the 
emergency,  and  we  might  remain  unsubdued  even  by  so  tremendous  a  com- 
>ination;  but  the  consequences  to  us  would  be  terrible  enough.  You  must 
illow  me,  Sir,  to  speak  thus  freely,  as  I  feel  deeply,  though  my  opinion  may 
De  of  but  little  import,  as  the  expression  of  a  dying  man.  Sir,  the  recent 
melancholy  subversion  of  the  republican  government  of  France,  and  that 
enlightened  nation  voluntarily  placing  its  neck  under  the  yoke  of  despotism, 
teach  us  to  despair  of  any  present  success  for  liberal  institutions  in  Europe. 
They  give  us  an  impressive  warning  not  to  rely  upon  others  for  the  vindica 
tion  of  our  principles,  but  to  look  to  ourselves,  and  to  cherish  with  more 
care  than  ever  the  security  of  our  institutions  and  the  preservation  of  our 
policy  and  principles. 

"  By  the  policy  to  which  we  have  adhered  since  the  days  of  Washington, 
we  have  prospered  beyond  precedent — we  have  done  more  for  the  cause  of 
liberty  in  the  world  than  arms  could  effect.  We  have  showed  to  other 
nations  the  way  to  greatness  and  happiness  ;  and,  if  we  but  continue  united 
as  one  people,  and  persevere  in  the  policy  which  our  experience  has  so 
clearly  and  triumphantly  vindicated,  we  may  in  another  quarter  of  a  century 
furnish  an  example  which  the  reason  of  the  world  can  not  resist.  But  if  we 
should  involve  ourselves  in  the  tangled  web  of  European  politics,  in  a  war 
in  which  we  could  effect  nothing,  and  if  in  that  struggle  Hungary  should 
go  down,  and  we  should  go  down  with  her,  where  then  would  be  the  last 
hope  of  the  friends  of  freedom  throughout  the  world  ?  Far  better  is  it  for 
ourselves,  for  Hungary,  and  for  the  cause  of  liberty,  that,  adhering  to  our 
wise,  pacific  system,  and  avoiding  the  distant  wars  of  Europe,  we  should 
keep  our  lamp  burning  brightly  on  this  western  shore  as  a  light  to  all  na 
tions,  than  to  hazard  its  utter  extinction,  amid  the  ruins  of  fallen  or  falling 
republics  in  Europe." 

This  matured  and  deliberate  expression  of  Mr.  Clay's  views 
respecting  the  course  which  our  Government  should  pursue  with 
regard  to  European  Politics  was  the  last  counsel  which  fell  from 
his  lips  with  respect  to  public  affairs.  A  private  letter,  which 
he  had  previously  written,  expressing  a  preference  for  Mr.  Fill- 
more  as  the  Whig  candidate  for  President,  was  made  public 
about  the  same  time  with  this  ;  and  the  preference  thus  expressed 
he  cherished  to  the  last,  though  he  never  failed  to  do  justice  to 
he  eminent  abilities  and  distinguished  public  services  of  Mr. 
Webster  and  General  Scott.  Though  now  on  the  brink  of  the 
grave,  he  manifested  a  lively  interest  in  the  doings  of  the  Whig 
National  Convention  at  Baltimore  ;  and,  when  its  choice  had 
fallen  upon  General  Scott,  he  expressed  satisfaction  and  acquies 
cence,  though  his  own  choice  had  been  different. 

24 


370  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

But  higher  themes  engrossed  in  larger  measure  his  time  and 
thoughts.  Mr.  Clay  had  been  through  life  an  undoubting  be 
liever  in  Christian  Revelation,  whereof  his  own  father  had  lived 
and  died  a  minister,  while  his  mother  and  his  wife  were  life 
long  disciples.  Years  ago,  while  yet  unvisited  by  sickness  and 
with  the  prospect  of  a  serene  old  age  before  him,  Mr.  Clay  had 
united  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  at  Lexington,  and 
had  ever  since  enjoyed  its  communion.  The  chaplain  of  the 
Senate,  Rev.  C.  M.  Butler,  was  a  minister  of  that  church  as  well 
as  a  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  spent  much  of  the  Winter 
at  the  bedside  of  the  dying  man. 

Mr.  Clay's  piety  was  humble  and  self-distrustful,  but  his  faith 
was  firm  and  unclouded ;  and,  though  his  sufferings  were  severe 
and  protracted,  he  was  resigned  to  their  infliction  as  the  salutary 
discipline  of  a  spirit  Avhich,  in  bygone  years,  had  contemplated 
too  fondly  and  engrossingly  the  fleeting  vanities  of  earth.  No 
hovel,  no  hospital,  enclosed  a  Christian  soul  preparing  to  bid 
adieu  to  its  tenement  of  flesh  in  more  entire  renunciation  of  self- 
righteousness,  in  more  exclusive  reliance  on  the  mercy  mani 
fested  through  the  world's  Redeemer,  than  that  of  Henry  Clay. 

Though  his  strength  declined  daily,  and  the  ability  to  walk, 
to  sit,  to  rise,  and  finally  to  speak,  had  been  successively  with 
drawn,  yet  so  great  was  his  natural  vigor  of  constitution,  and  so 
far  had  he  already  outlived  the  expectations  of  his  most  sanguine 
friends,  that  a  hope  began  to  be  cherished  and  expressed  that 
his  frail  thread  of  life  would  endure  until  the  approaching  4th  of 
July,  so  that  his  soul  would  wing  its  flight  to  the  society  of  his 
Country's  departed  patriots  and  statesmen  on  the  76th  Anniver 
sary  of  her  Declaration  of  Independence,  but  the  overruling  fiat 
had  otherwise  decreed.  On  the  29th  of  June,  at  17  minutes 
past  1 1  o'clock,  while  no  one  was  apprehending  his  immediate 
departure,  and  when  only  Governor  Jones,  of  Tennessee,  was 
present,  with  his  son,  his  host,  and  his  faithful  servant,  his  breath 
ing,  which  had  gradually  grown  faint  and  fainter,  entirely  ceased, 
So  gentle  and  tranquil  was  the  change,  without  convulsion  or 
struggle,  that  his  devoted  attendants  believed  it  but  a  momentary 
sleep,  and  bent  over  him  in  anxious  hope  of  his  speedy  return 
to  consciousness.  That  hope  was  destined  not  to  be  realized ; 


HIS    DEATH    ANNOUNCED.  371 

the  mighty  spirit  had  thus  peacefully  abandoned  its  wasted  tene 
ment  and  soared  on  wings  of  light  to  the  mansions  of  eternal 
rest. 


XXXVI. 

EULOGIES    IN    CONGRESS FUNERAL    HONORS. 

THE  two  Houses  met  at  12  o'clock,  and  the  members  wera 
generally  on  their  way  to  the  Capitol  when  overtaken  by  tho 
tidings  of  Mr.  Clay's  death.  In  the  Senate,  before  the  reading 
of  its  journal,  Mr.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  only  said  :  — 

"  Mr.  President,  a  rumor  has  been  circulated  that  Henry  Clay  is  dead. 
His  colleague  is  absent,  rendering  the  last  sad  offices.  I  therefore  move  that 
the  Senate  adjourn." 

The  motion  was  agreed  to,  and  the  Senate  adjourned. 
In  the  House,  after  the  reading  of  the  journals,  Mr.  Venable, 
of  North  Carolina,  said:  — 

"In  consequence  of  the  report — which  may  be  true — that  Henry  Clay, 
the  illustrious  Senator  from  Kentucky,  breathed  his  last  at  his  lodgings  a  few 
moments  since,  I  move  that  the  House  adjourn." 

This  was  carried  without  a  division. 

Of  the  next  day's  proceedings  in  both  Houses,  I  give  the  full 
and  carefully  corrected  report  of  the  The  Globe.  It  is  as  fol 
lows  :  — 

The  anticipated  formal  annunciation  of  the  death  of  Hon. 
Henry  Clay  brought  together  an  unusual  auditory.  Members 
of  the  House  intermingled  with  Senators  ;  the  representatives 
of  foreign  sovereigns  paid  the  tribute  of  their  presence  ;  Cabinet 
Ministers,  and  Heads  of  Bureaux,  and  members  of  the  Judiciary, 
clustered  without  the  bar.  Of  the  illustrious  cotemporaries  of 
the  distinguished  dead  but  few  remain  ;  but  one  form  attracted 
all  eyes — the  Secretary  of  State,  Daniel  Webster,  sat  there. 
The  General-in-Chief  of  the  Army,  Major-General  Scott,  too, 
was  present.  Attorney-General  Crittenden,  long  the  colleague 
of  the  deceased ;  the  Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson,  a  cotemporary 


372  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

in  the  Senate,  and  one  of  the  Attorney-General's  predecessors  ; 
and  numerous  others,  as  eminent  for  their  eloquence  and  their 
genius,  there  contemplated  the  end  of  human  greatness. 

The  Chaplain  to  the  Senate,  the  Rev.  C.  M.  Butler,  in  his 
opening  prayer,  supplicated  for  the  living ;  but  he  also  offered 
Christian  consolation  by  speaking  hopefully  of  the  dead,  whose 
declining  days  were  cheered  by  the  Gospel  dispensation. 

The  Journal  having  been  read,  Mr.  Underwood*  rose  and 
said  :  —  » 

"Mr.  President,  I  rise  to  announce  the  death  of  my  colleague,  Mr.  Clay. 
He  died  at  his  lodgings,  in  the  National  Hotel  of  this  city,  at  seventeen 
minutes  past  eleven  o'clock  yesterday  morning,  in  the  seventy-sixth  yea! 
of  his  age.  He  expired  with  perfect  composure,  and  without  a  groan  or 
struggle. 

"  By  his  death,  our  country  has  lost  one  of  its  most  eminent  citizens  and 
statesmen ;  and,  I  think,  its  greatest  genius.  I  shall  not  detain  the  Senate 
by  narrating  the  transactions  of  his  long  and  useful  life.  His  distin 
guished  services  as  a  statesman  are  inseparably  connected  with  the  his 
tory  of  his  country.  As  representative  and  speaker  in  the  other  House  of 
Congress,  as  senator  in  this  body,  as  secretary  of  state,  and  as  envoy  abroad, 
he  has,  in  all  these  positions,  exhibited  a  wisdom  and  patriotism  which  have 
made  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  upon  the  grateful  hearts  of  his  country 
men.  His  thoughts  and  his  actions  have  already  been  published  to  the 
world  in  written  biography ;  in  congressional  debates  and  reports ;  in  the 
journals  of  the  two  Houses ;  and  in  the  pages  of  American  history.  They 
have  been  commemorated  by  monuments  erected  on  the  wayside.  They 
have  been  engraven  on  medals  of  gold.  Their  memory  will  survive  the 
monuments  of  marble  and  the  medals  of  gold;  for  these  are  effaced  and  de- 
fay  by  the  friction  of  ages.  But  the  thoughts  and  actions  of  my  late  col 
league  have  become  identified  with  the  immortality  of  the  human  mind, 
and  will  pass  down  from  generation  to  generation  as  a  portion  of  our  na 
tional  inheritance  incapable  of  annihilation,  so  long  as  genius  has  an 
admirer,  or  liberty  a  friend. 

"Mr.  President,  the  character  of  Henry  Clay  was  formed  and  developed 
by  the  influence  of  our  free  institutions.  His  physical,  mental,  and  moral 
faculties  were  the  gift  of  God.  That  they  were  greatly  superior  to  the 
faculties  allotted  to  most  men,  can  nob  be  questioned.  They  were  not  cul 
tivated,  improved,  and  directed,  by  a  liberal  or  collegiate  education.  His 
respectable  parents  were  not  wealthy,  and  had  not  the  means  of  maintain 
ing  their  children  at  college.  Moreover,  his  father  died  when  he  was  a 
boy.  A.t  an  early  period,  Mr.  Clay  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources, 
without  patrimony.  He  grew  up  in  a  clerk's  office  in  Richmond,  Virginia. 
He  there  studied  law.  He  emigrated  from  his  native  State  and  settled  in 
Lexington,  Kentucky,  where  he  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession 
before  he  was  of  full  age. 

"The  road  to  wealth,  to  honor,  and  fame,  was  open  before  him.  Under 
>ur  constitution  and  laws,  he  might  freely  employ  his  great  faculties  unob 
structed  by  legal  impediments,  and  unaided  by  exclusive  privileges.  Very 

*  Joseph  R.  Underwood,  (Whip),  of  Kentucky. 


EULOGY    OF    MR.    UNDERWOOD.  373 

soon,  Mr.  Clay  made  a  deep  and  favorable  impression  upon  tl/e  people 
among  whom  he  began  his  career.  The  excellence  of  his  natural  faculties 
was  soon  displayed.  Necessity  stimulated  him  in  their  cultivation.  His 
assiduity,  skill,  and  fidelity,  in  professional  engagements,  secured  public 
confidence.  He  was  elected  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky,  in 
which  body  he  served  several  sessions  prior  to  1806.  In  that  year  he  was 
elevated  to  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

"  At  the  bar  and  in  the  General  Assembly  of  Kentucky,  Mr.  Clay  first 
manifested  those  high  qualities  as  a  public  speaker  which  have  secured  to 
him  so  much  popular  applause  and  admiration.  His  physical  and  mental 
organization  eminently  qualified  him  to  become  a  great  and  impressive 
orator.  His  person  was  tall,  slender,  and  commanding.  His  temperament 
ardent,  fearless,  and  full  of  hope.  His  countenance  clear,  expressive,  and 
variable — indicating  the  emotion  which  predominated  at  the  moment  with 
exact  similitude.  His  voice,  cultivated  and  modulated  in  harmony  with 
the  sentiment  he  desired  to  express,  fell  upon  the  ear  like  the  melody  of 
enrapturing  music.  His  eye  beaming  with  intelligence  and  flashing  with 
coruscations  of  genius.  His  gestures  and  attitudes  graceful  and  natural. 
These  personal  advantages  won  the  prepossessions  of  an  audience,  even  be 
fore  his  intellectual  powers  began  to  move  his  hearers;  and  wrhen  his  strong 
common  sense,  his  profound  reasoning,  his  clear  conceptions  of  his  subject 
in  all  its  bearings,  and  his  striking  and  beautiful  illustrations,  united  with 
such  personal  qualities,  were  brought  to  the  discussion  of  any  question,  his 
audience  was  enraptured,  convinced,  and  led  by  the  orator  as  if  enchanted 
by  the  lyre  of  Orpheus. 

"No  man  was  ever  blessed  by  his  Creator  with  faculties  of  a  higher  or 
der  of  excellence  than  those  given  to  Mr.  Clay.  In  the  quickness  of  his 
perceptions,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  his  conclusions  were  formed,  he 
had  few  equals,  and  no  superior.  He  was  eminently  endowed  with  a  nice 
discriminating  taste  for  order,  symmetry,  and  beauty.  He  detected  in  a 
moment  everything  out  of  place  or  deficient  in  his  room,  upon  his  farm,  in 
his  own  or  the  dress  of  others.  He  was  a  skillful  judge  of  the  form  and 
qualities  of  his  domestic  animals,  which  he  delighted  to  raise  on  his  farm. 
I  could  give  you  instances  of  the  quickness  and  minuteness  of  his  keen 
faculty  of  observation  which  never  overlooked  anything.  A  want  of  neat 
ness  and  order  was  offensive  to  him.  He  was  particular  and  neat  in  his 
handwriting,  and  his  apparel.  A  slovenly  blot  or  negligence  of  any  sort 
met  his  condemnation ;  while  he  was  so  organized  that  he  attended  to,  and 
arranged  little  things  to  please  and  gratify  his  natural  love  for  neatness, 
order,  and  beauty,  his  great  intellectual  faculties  grasped  all  the  subjects 
of  jurisprudence  and  politics  with  a  facility  amounting  almost  to  intuition. 
As  a  lawyer,  he  stood  at  the  head  of  his  profession.  As  a  statesman,  his 
stand  at  the  head  of  the  Republican  Whig  party  for  nearly  half  a  century 
establishes  his  title  to  preeminence  among  his  illustrious  associates. 

"  Mr.  Clay  was  deeply  versed  in  all  the  springs  of  human  action.  He 
had  read  and  studied  biography  and  history.  Shortly  after  I  left  college, 
I  had  occasion  to  call  on  him  in  Frankfort,  where  he  was  attending  court, 
and  well  I  remember  to  have  found  him  with  Plutarch's  Lives  in  his  hands. 
No  one  better  than  he  knew  how  to  avail  himself  of  human  motives,  and 
all  the  circumstances  which  surrounded  a  subject,  or  could  present  them 
with  more  force  and  skill  to  accomplish  the  object  of  an  argument. 

"  Mr.  Clay,  throughout  his  public  career,  was  influenced  by  the  loftiest 
patriotism.  Confident  in  the  truth  of  his  convictions  and  the  purity  of  his 
purposes,  he  was  ardent,  sometimes  impetuous,  in  the  pursuit  of  objects 


374  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

which  he  believed  essential  to  the  general  welfare.  Those  who  stood  in 
his  way  were  thrown  aside  without  fear  or  ceremony.  He  never  affected 
a  courtier's  deference  to  men  or  opinions  which  he  thought  hostile  to  the 
best  interest1*  of  his  country ;  and  hence  he  may  have  wounded  the  vanity 
of  those  wh ;  thought  themselves  of  consequence.  It  is  certain,  whatever 
the  cause,'  that  at  one  period  of  his  life  Mr.  Clay  might  have  been  referred 
to  as  proof  that  there  is  more  truth  than  fiction  in  those  profound  lines  of 
the  poet : — 

'  He  who  ascends  the  mountain-top  shall  find 

Its  loftiest  peaks  most  wrapt  in  clouds  and  enow ; 
He  who  surpasses  or  subdues  mankind, 

Must  look  down  on  the  hate  of  those  below, 
Though  far  above  the  sun  of  glory  glow, 
And  far  beneath  the  earth  and  ocean  spread, 
Round  him  are  icy  rocks,  and  loudly  blow 
Contending  tempests  on  his  naked  head, 
And  thus  reward  the  toils  which  to  those  summits  led.' 

"Calumny  and  detraction  emptied  their  vials  upon  him.  But  how 
glorious  the  change!  He  outlived  malice  and  envy.  He  lived  long  enough 
to  prove  to  the  world  that  his  ambition  was  no  more  than  a  holy  aspiration 
to  make  his  country  the  greatest,  most  powerful,  and  best-governed  on  the 
earth.  If  he  desired  its  highest  office,  it  was  because  the  greater  power  and 
influence  resulting  from  such  elevation  would  enable  him  to  do  more  than 
he  otherwise  could  for  the  progress  and  advancement — first  of  his  own 
countrymen,  then  of  his  whole  race.  His  sympathies  embraced  all.  The 
African  slave,  the  Creole  of  Spanish  America,  the  children  of  renovated. 
classic  Greece — all  families  of  men,  without  respect  to  color  or  clime,  found 
in  his  expanded  bosom  and  comprehensive  intellect  a  friend  of  their  eleva 
tion  and  amelioration.  Such  ambition  as  that  is  God's  implantation  in  the 
human  heart  for  raising  the  down-trodden  nations  of  the  earth,  and  fitting 
them  for  regenerated  existence  in  politics,  in  morals,  and  religion. 

"Bold  and  determined  as  Mr.  Clay  was  in  all  his  actions,  he  was,  neverthe 
less,  conciliating.  He  did  not  obstinately  adhere  to  things  impracticable. 
If  he  could  not  accomplish  the  best,  he  contented  himself  with  the  nighest 
approach  to  it.  He  has  been  the  great  compromiser  of  those  political 
agitations  and  opposing  opinions  which  have,  in  the  belief  of  thousands, 
at  different  times,  endangered  the  perpetuity  of  our  Federal  Government 
and  Union. 

"Mr.  Clay  was  no  less  remarkable  for  his  admirable  social  qualities  than 
for  his  intellectual  abilities.  As  a  companion,  he  was  the  delight  of  his 
friends;  and  no  man  ever  had  better  or  truer.  They  have  loved  him  from 
the  beginning,  and  loved  him  to  the  last.  His  hospitable  mansion  at 
Ashland  was  always  open  to  their  reception.  Ko  guest  ever  thence 
departed  without  feeling  happier  for  his  visit.  But,  alas!  that  hospitable 
mansion  has  already  been  converted  into  a  house  of  mourning  ;  already  has 
intelligence  of  his  death  passed  with  electric  velocity  to  that  aged  and  now 
widowed  lady  who,  for  more  than  fifty  years,  bore  to  him  all  the  endearing 
relations  of  wife,  and  whose  feeble  condition  prevented  her  from  joining 
him  in  this  city,  and  soothing  the  anguish  of  life's  last  scene  by  those 
endearing  attentions  which  no  one  can  give  so  well  as  a  woman  and  a 
wife.  May  God  infuse  into  her  heart  and  mind  the  Christian  spirit  of  sub 
mission  under  her  bereavement !  It  can  not  be  long  before  she  may  expect  a 
reunion  in  Heaven.  A  nation  condoles  with  her  and  her  children  on 
account  of  their  irreparable  loss. 


REMARKS  OF  MR  UNDERWOOD.  375 

"Mr.  Clay,  from  the  nature  of  his  disease,  declined  very  gradually.  He  bore 
his  protracted  sufferings  with  great  equanimity  and  patience.  On  one  occasion 
he  said  to  me  that  when  deatli  was  inevitable  and  must  soon  come,  and  when 
the  sufferer  was  ready  to  die,  he  did  not  perceive  the  wisdom  of  praying  to 
be  '  delivered  from  sudden  death.'  He  thought  under  such  circumstances 
the  sooner  suffering  was  relieved  by  death  the  better.  He  desired  the 
termination  of  his  own  sufferings,  while  he  acknowledged  the  duty  of 
patiently  waiting  and  abiding  the  pleasure  of  God.  Mr.  Clay  frequently 
spoke  to  me  of  his  hope  of  eternal  life,  founded  upon  the  merits  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  a  Savior ;  who,  as  he  remarked,  came  into  the  world  to  bring 
'life  and  immortality  to  light.'  He  was  a  member  of  the  Episcopalian 
Church.  In  one  of  our  conversations  he  told  me  that,  as  his  hour  of  disso 
lution  approached,  he  found  that  his  affections  were  concentrating  more 
and  more  upon  his  domestic  circle — his  wife  and  children.  In  my  daily 
visits  he  was  in  the  habit  of  asking  me  to  detail  to  him  the  transactions  of 
the  Senate.  This  I  did,  and  he  manifested  much  interest  in  passing  occur 
rences.  His  inquiries  were  less  frequent  as  his  end  approached.  For  the 
week  preceding  his  death,  he  seemed  to  be  altogether  abstracted  from  the 
concerns  of  the  world.  When  he  became  so  low  that  he  could  not  converse 
without  being  fatigued,  he  frequently  requested  those  around  him  to  con 
verse.  He  would  then  quietly  listen.  He  retained  his  mental  faculties  in 
great  perfection.  His  memory  remained  perfect.  He  frequently  mentioned 
events  and  conversations  of  recent  occurrence,  showing  that  he  had  a  perfect 
recollection  of  which  was  said  and  done.  He  said  to  me  that  he  was  grate 
ful  to  God  for  continuing  to  him  the  blessing  of  reason,  which  enabled  him 
to  contemplate  and  reflect  on  his  situation.  He  manifested,  during  his  con 
finement,  the  same  characteristics  which  marked  his  conduct  through  the 
vigor  of  his  life.  He  was  exceedingly  averse  to  give  his  friends  '  trouble,' 
as  he  called  it.  Some  time  before  he  knew  it,  we  commenced  waiting 
through  the  night  in  an  adjoining  room.  He  said  to  me  after  passing  a 
painful  day,  'perhaps  some  one  had  better  remain  all  night  in  the  parlor.' 
From  this  he  time  he  knew  some  friend  was  constantly  at  hand  ready  to 
attend  to  him. 

"Mr.  President,  the  majestic  form  of  Mr.  Clay  will  no  more  grace  these 
Halls.  Iso  more  shall  we  hear  that  voice  which  has  so  often  thrilled  and 
charmed  the  assembled  representatives  of  the  American  people.  No  more 
shall  we  see  that  waving  hand  and  eye  of  light,  as  when  he  was  engaged 
in  unfolding  his  policy  in  regard  to  the  varied  interests  of  our  growing  and 
mighty  republican  empire.  His  voice  is  silent  on  earth  for  ever.  The  dark 
ness  of  death  has  obscured  the  lustre  of  his  eye.  But  the  memory  of  his 
services — not  only  to  his  beloved  Kentucky,  not  only  to  the  United  States, 
but  to  the  cause  of  human  freedom  and  progress  throughout  the  world — 
will  live  through  future  ages,  as  a  bright  example,  stimulating  and  encoura 
ging  his  own  countrymen  and  the  people  of  all  nations  in  their  patriotic 
devotions  to  country  and  humanity. 

"With  Christians,  there  is  yet  a  nobler  and  a  higher  thought  in  regard 
to  Mr.  Clay.  They  will  think  of  him  in  connection  with  eternity.  They 
will  contemplate  his  immortal  spirit  occupying  its  true  relative  magnitude 
among  the  moral  stars  of  glory  in  the  presence  of  God.  They  will  think  of 
him  as  having  fulfilled  the  duties  allotted  to  him  on  earth,  having  been 
regenerated  by  Divine  grace,  and  having  passed  through  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  and  reached  an  everlasting  and  happy  home  in  that  'house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.' 

"On  Sunday  morning  last,  I  was  watching  alone  at  Mr.  Clay's  bedside. 


376  LIFE    07    HENRY    CLAY. 

For  the  last  hour  he  had  been  unusually  quiet,  and  I  thought  he  was  sleep* 
ing.  In  that,  however,  he  told  me  I  was  mistaken.  Opening  his  eyes  and 
looking  at  me,  he  said,  'Mr.  Underwood,  there  maybe  some  question  where 
my  remains  shall  be  buried.  Some  persons  may  designate  Frankfort.  I 
wish  to  repose  at  the  cemetery  in  Lexington,  where  many  of  my  friends  and 
connections  are  buried.'  My  reply  was,  'I  will  endeavor  to  have  your  wish 
executed.' 

"I  now  ask  the  Senate  to  have  his  corpse  transmitted  to  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  for  sepulture.  Let  him  sleep  with  the  dead  of  that  city,  in  and 
near  which  his  home  has  been  for  more  than  half  a  century.  For  the  people 
of  Lexington,  the  living  and  the  dead,  he  manifested,  by  the  statement  made 
to  me,  a  pure  and  holy  sympathy,  and  a  desire  to  cleave  unto  them,  as  strong 
as  that  which  bound  lluth  to  Naomi.  It  was  his  anxious  wish  to  return  to 
them  before  lie  died,  and  to  realize  what  the  daughter  of  Moab  so  strongly 
felt  and  beautifully  expressed:  'Thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy 
God  my  God.  Where  thou  diest  will  1  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried.' 

"It  is  fit  that  the  tomb  of  Henry  Clay  should  be  in  the  city  of  Lexington. 
In  our  Revolution,  liberty's  first  libation  of  blood  was  poured  out  in  a  town 
of  that  name  in  Massachusetts.  On  hearing  it,  the  pioneers  of  Kentucky 
consecrated  the  name,  and  applied  it  to  the  place  where  Mr.  Clay  desired 
to  be  buried.  The  associations  connected  with  the  name  harmonize  with 
his  character;  and  the  monument  erected  to  his  memory  at  the  spot  selected 
by  him  will  be  visited  by  the  votaries  of  genius  and  liberty  with  that 
reverence  which  is  inspired  at  the  tomb  of  Washington.  Upon  that  monu 
ment  let  his  epitaph  be  engraved. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  availed  myself  of  Doctor  Johnson's  paraphrase  of 
the  epitaph  on  Thomas  Hammer,  with  a  few  alterations  and  additions,  to 
express  in  borrowed  verse  my  admiration  for  the  life  and  character  of  Mr. 
Clay,  and  with  this  heart-tribute  to  the  memory  of  my  illustrious  colleague, 
I  conclude  my  remarks : 

"  '  Born  when  Freedom  her  stripes  and  stars  unfurled, 
When  Revolution  shook  the  startled  world  ; 
Heroes  and  sages  taught  his  brilliant  mind 
To  know  and  love  the  rights  of  all  mankind. 
"  In  life's  first  bloom  his  public  toils  began, 
At  once  commenced  the  Senator  and  man, 
In  business  dext'rous,  weighty  in  debate, 
Near  fifty  years  he  labored  for  the  State. 
In  every  speech  persuasive  wisdom  flowed, 
In  every  act  refulgent  virtue  glowed  ; 
Suspended  faction  ceased  from  rasje  and  strife, 
To  hear  his  eloquence  and  praise  his  life. 
Resistless  merit  fixed  the  Members'  choice, 
Who  hailed  him  Speaker  with  united  voice." 
His  talents  ripening  with  advancing  years  ; 
His  wisdom  growing  with  his  public  cares ; 
A  chosen  envoy,  War's  dark  horrors  cease, 
And  tides  of  carnage  turn  to  streams  of  peace. 
Conflicting  principles,  internal  strife, 
Tariff  and  Slavery,  disunion  rife, 
All  are  compromised  by  his  mastermind, 
And  beams  of  joy  illuminate  the  land. 
Patriot,  Christian,  Husband,  Father,  Friend, 
Thy  work  of  life  achieved  a  glorious  end  !' 

"  I  offer  the  following  resolutions : — 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  six  be  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  Senate,  to  take 
Drder  for  superintending  the  funeral  of  Henry  Clay,  late  a  member  of  this  body,  which  will 
take  place  to-morow  at  12  o'clock,  meridian,  and  that  the  Senate  will  attend  the  same. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  Senate,  from  a  sincere  desire  of  showing  every 


KU.MJGY    OF    GEN.    CASS.  377 

mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  will  go  into  mourning  for  one  month  by 
the  usual  mode  of  wearing  crape  on  the  left  arm, 

"  Resolved,  As  a  further  mark  of  respect  entertained  by  the  Senate  for  the  memory  of 
Henry  Clay,  and  his  long  and  distinguished  services  to  his  country,  that  his  remains,  in  pur 
suance  of  the  known  wishes  of  his  family,  be  removed  to  the  place  of  sepulture  selected  by 
himself  at  Lexington,  in  Kentucky,  in  charge  of  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  of  the  Senate,  and 
attended  by  a  committee  of  six  Senators,  to  be  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  Senate, 
who  shall  have  full  power  to  carry  this  resolution  into  effect." 

MR,  CASS.*  "Mr.  President:  Again  has  an  impressive  warning  come  to 
teach  us  that  in  the  midst  of  life  we  are  in  death.  The  ordinary  labors  of  this 
Hall  are  suspended,  and  its  contentions  hushed,  before  the  power  of  Him 
who  says  to  the  storm  of  human  passions,  as  He  said  of  old  to  the  waves  of 
Galilee,  '  PEACE,  BE  STILL.'  The  lessons  of  His  Providence,  severe  as  they  may 
be,  often  become  merciful  dispensations,  like  that  which  is  now  spreading 
sorrow  through  the  land,  and  which  is  reminding  us  that  we  have  higher 
duties  to  fulfil,  and  graver  responsibilities  to  encounter,  than  those  that  meet 
us  here,  when  we  lay  our  hands  upon  His  holy  word,  and  invoke  His  holy 
name,  promising  to  be  faithful  to  that  Constitution  which  He  gave  us  in  His 
mercy,  and  will  withdraw  only  in  the  hour  of  our  blindness  and  disobedi 
ence,  and  of  His  own  wrath. 

"Another  great  man  has  fallen  in  our  land,  ripe  indeed  in  years  and  in 
honors,  but  never  dearer  to  the  American  people  than  when  called  from  the 
theatre  of  his  services  and  renown,  to  that  final  bar  where  the  lofty  and  the 
lowly  must  all  meet  at  last. 

"  I  do  not  rise  upon  this  mournful  occasion  to  indulge  in  the  language  of 
panegyric.  My  regard  for  the  memory  of  the  dead,  and  for  the  obligations 
of  the  living,  would  equally  rebuke  such  a  course.  The  severity  of  truth  is 
at  once  our  proper  duty  and  our  best  consolation.  Born  during  the  revolu 
tionary  struggle,  our  deceased  associate  was  one  of  the  few  remaining  public 
men  who  connect  the  present  generation  with  the  actors  in  the  trying  scenes 
of  that  eventful  period,  and  whose  names  and  deeds  will  soon  be  known 
only  in  the  history  of  their  country.  He  was  another  illustration,  and  a 
noble  one,  too,  of  the  glorious  equality  of  our  institutions,  which  freely  offer 
all  their  rewards  to  all  who  justly  seek  them,  for  he  was  the  architect  of 
his  own  fortune,  having  made  his  way  in  life  by  self-exertion ;  and  he  was 
an  early  adventurer  in  the  great  forest  of  the  West,  then  a  world  of  primi 
tive  vegetation,  but  now  the  abode  of  intelligence  and  religion,  of  prosperity 
and  civilization. 

"  But  he  possessed  that  intellectual  superiority  which  overcomes  surround 
ing  obstacles,  and  which  local  seclusion  can  not  long  withhold  from  general 
knowledge  and  appreciation.  It  is  almost  half  a  century  since  he  passed 
through  Chilicothe,  then  the  seat  of  government  of  Ohio,  where  I  was  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  on  his  way  to  take  his  place  in  this  very  body, 
which  is  now  listening  to  this  reminiscence,  and  to  a  feeble  tribute  of  regard 
from  one  who  then  saw  him  for  the  first  time,  but  who  can  never  forget  the 
impression  he  produced  by  the  charms  of  his  conversation,  the  frankness  of 
his  manner,  and  the  high  qualities  with  which  he  was  endowed.  Since  then 
he  has  belonged  to  his  country,  and  has  taken  a  part,  and  a  prominent  part, 
both  in  peace  and  war,  in  all  the  great  questions  affecting  her  interests  and 
her  honor;  and  though  it  has  been  my  fortune  often  to  differ  from  him,  yet 
I  believe  he  was  as  pure  a  patriot  as  ever  participated  in  the  councils  of  a 
nation,  anxious  for  the  public  good,  and  seeking  to  promote  it  during  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  a  long  and  eventful  life.  That  he  exercised  a  powerful  in 
fluence  within  the  sphere  of  his  action,  through  the  whole  country,  indeed  w« 

*  General  Lewis  Cass  (Democrat),  of  Michigan. 


378  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY, 

all  feel  and  know ;  and  we  know,  too,  the  eminent  endowments  whick  gav« 
him  this  high  distinction.  Frank  and  fearless  in  the  expression  of  his  opin 
ions,  and  in  the  performance  of  his  duties — with  rare  powers  of  eloquence, 
which  never  failed  to  rivet  the  attention  of  his  auditory,  and  which  always 
commanded  admiration,  even  when  they  did  not  carry  conviction — prompt 
in  decision  and  firm  in  action,  and  with  a  vigorous  intellect,  trained  in  the 
contests  of  a  stirring  life,  and  strengthened  by  enlarged  experience  and  ob 
servation,  joined  withal  to  an  ardent  love  of  country,  and  to  great  purity 
of  purpose ;  these  were  the  elements  of  his  power  and  success.  And  we 
dwell  upon  them  with  mournful  gratification,  now  when  we  shall  soon  follow 
him  to  the  cold  and  silent  tomb,  where  we  shall  commit  earth  to  earth,  ashes 
to  ashes.,  Just  to  dust,  but  with  the  blessed  conviction  of  the  truth  of  that 
Divine  revelation,  which  teaches  us  that  there  is  life  and  hope  beyond  the 
narrow  house,  where  we  shall  leave  him  alone  to  the  mercy  of  his  God  and 
of  ours. 

"  He  has  passed  beyond  the  reach  of  human  praise  or  censure ;  but  the 
judgment  of  his  contemporaries  has  preceded  and  pronounced  the  judgment 
of  history,  and  his  name  and  fame  will  shed  lustre  upon  his  country,  and 
will  be  proudly  cherished  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  for  long  ages  to 
come.  Yes,  they  will  be  cherished  and  freshly  remembered  when  these 
marble  columns  that  surround  us,  so  often  the  witnesses  of  his  triumphs,  but 
in  a  few  brief  hours,  when  his  mortal  frame,  despoiled  of  the  immortal  spirit, 
shall  rest  under  this  dome  for  the  last  time,  to  become  the  witnesses  of  his 
defeat  in  that  final  contest  where  the  mightiest  fall  before  the  great  destroyer 
— when  these  marble  columns  shall  themselves  have  fallen,  like  all  the  works 
of  man,  leaving  their  broken  fragments  to  tell  the  story  of  former  magnifi 
cence,  amid  the  very  ruins  which  announce  decay  and  desolation. 

"  I  was  often  with  him  during  his  last  illness,  when  the  world  and  the 
things  of  the  world  were  fast  fading  away  before  him.  He  knew  that  the 
silver  cord  was  almost  loosed,  and  that  the  golden  bowl  was  breaking  at 
the  fountain ;  but  he  was  resigned  to  the  will  of  Providence,  feeling  that  He 
who  gave  has  the  right  to  take  away  in  His  own  good  time  and  manner. 
After  his  duty  to  his  Creator,  and  his  anxiety  for  his  family,  his  first  care  was 
for  his  country,  and  his  first  wish  for  the  preservation  and  perpetuation  of 
the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  dear  to  him  in  the  hour  of  death,  as  they 
had  ever  been  in  the  vigor  of  life.  Of  that  Constitution  and  Union  whose 
defence,  in  the  last  and  greatest  crisis  of  their  peril,  had  called  forth  all  his 
energies,  and  had  stimulated  those  memorable  and  powerful  exertions,  which 
he  who  witnessed  can  never  forget,  and  which  no  doubt  hastened  the  final 
catastrophe,  a  nation  now  deplores  with  a  sincerity  and  unanimity  not  less 
honorable  to  themselves  than  to  the  memory  of  the  object  of  their  affections. 
And  when  we  shall  enter  that  narrow  valley  through  which  he  has  passed 
before  us,  and  which  leads  to  the  judgment-seat  of  God,  may  we  be  able 
to  say,  through  faith  in  His  Son,  our  Savior,  and  in  the  beautiful  language 
of  the  hymn  of  the  dying  Christian — dying,  but  ever-living  and  triumph 
ant:— 

"  '  The  world  recedes,  it  disappears  ! 
Heaven  opens  on  my  eyes  !  my  ears 
With  sounds  seraphic  ring : 
Lend,  lend  your  wings  I  I  mount,  I  fly  I 
Oh  grave  where  is  thy  victory  ? 
Oh  death  where  is  thy  sting  ?' 

"Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like 
his." 


REMARKS    OF    MR.    HUNTER    OF    VA.  379 

Mr.  HUNTER.*  "Mr.  President,  we  have  heard,  with  deep  sensibility  what 
has  just  fallen  from  the  Senators  who  have  preceded  me.  "We  have  heard, 
sir,  the  voice  of  Kentucky — and,  upon  this  occasion,  she  had  a  right  to 
speak — in  mingled  accents  of  pride  and  sorrow ;  for  it  has  rarely  fallen  to 
the  lot  of  any  State  to  lament  the  loss  of  such  a  son.  But  Virginia,  too,  is 
entitled  to  her  place  in  this  procession  ;  for  she  can  not  be  supposed  to  be 
unmindful  of  the  tie  which  bound  her  to  the  dead.  "When  the  earth  opens 
to  receive  the  mortal  part  which  she  gave  to  man,  it  is  then  that  affection 
is  eager  to  bury  in  its  bosom  every  recollection  but  those  of  love  and  kind 
ness.  And,  sir,  when  the  last  sensible  tie  is  about  to  be  severed,  it  is  then 
that  we  look  with  anxious  interest  to  the  deeds  of  the  life,  and  to  the 
emanations  of  the  heart  and  the  mind,  for  those  more  enduring  monuments 
which  are  the  creation  of  an  immortal  nature. 

"In  this  instance,  we  can  be  at  no  loss  for  these.  This  land,  sir,  is  full 
of  the  monuments  of  his  genius.  His  memory  is  as  imperishable  as  Ameri 
can  history  itself,  for  he  was  one  of  those  who  made  it.  Sir,  he  belonged  to 
that  marked  class  who  are  the  men  of  their  century ;  for  it  was  his  rare 
good  fortune  not  only  to  have  been  endowed  with  the  capacity  to  do  great 
things,  but  to  have  enjoyed  the  opportunities  of  achieving  them.  I  know, 
sir,  it  has  been  said  and  deplored,  that  he  wanted  some  of  the  advantages 
of  an  early  education ;  but  it,  perhaps,  has  not  been  remembered  that,  in 
many  respects,  he  enjoyed  such  opportunities  for  mental  training  as  can 
rarely  fall  to  the  lot  of  man.  He  had  not  a  chance  to  learn  as  much  from 
books,  but  he  had  such  opportunities  of  learning  from  men  as  few  men  have 
ever  enjoyed.  Sir,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  he  was  reared  at  a  time 
when  there  was  a  state  of  society  in  the  Commonwealth  which  gave  him 
birth,  such  as  has  never  been  seen  there  before  nor  since.  It  was  his  early 
privilege  to  see  how  justice  was  administered  by  a  Pendleton  and  a  Wythe, 
with  the  last  of  whom  he  was  in  the  daily  habit  of  familiar  intercourse 
He  had  constant  opportunities  to  observe  how  forensic  questions  were 
managed  by  a  Marshall  and  a  "Wickham.  He  was  old  enough,  too,  to  have 
heard  and  to  have  appreciated  the  eloquence  of  a  Patrick  Henry,  and  of 
George  Keith  Taylor.  In  short,  sir,  he  lived  in  a  society  in  which  the  ex 
amples  of  a  Jefferson,  and  a  Madison,  and  a  Monroe,  were  living  influences, 
and  on  which  the  setting  sun  of  a  "Washington  cast  the  mild  effulgence  of 
its  departing  rays. 

"  He  was  trained,  too,  as  has  been  well  said  by  the  Senator  from  Michi 
gan,  (Mr.  Cass),  at  a  period  when  the  recent  revolutionary  struggle  had 
given  a  more  elevated  tone  to  patriotism  and  imparted  a  higher  cast  to  pub 
lic  feeling  and  to  public  character.  Such  lessons  were  worth,  perhaps, 
more  to  him  than  the  whole  encyclopaedia  of  scholastic  learning.  Not  only 
were  the  circumstances  of  his  early  training  favorable  to  the  development 
of  his  genius,  but  the  theatre  upon  which  he  was  thrown  was  eminently 
propitious  for  its  exercise.  The  circumstances  of  the  early  settlement  of 
Kentucky,  the  generous,  daring,  and  reckless  character  of  the  people — all 
fitted  it  to  be  the  theatre  for  the  display  of  those  commanding  qualities  of 
heart  and  mind,  which  he  so  eminently  possessed.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  but  that  those  people  and  their  chosen  leader  exercised  a  mutual  in 
fluence  upon  each  other  ;  and  no  one  can  be  surprised  that,  with  his  brave 
spirit  and  commanding  eloquence,  and  fascinating  address,  he  should  have 
led  not  only  there  but  elsewhere. 

"  I  did  not  know  him,  Mr.  President,  as  you  did,  in  the  freshness  of  his 

*  Robert  M.  T.  Hunter  (State  Rights  Democrat)  of  Virginia. 


380  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

prime,  or  in  the  full  maturity  of  his  manhood.  I  did  not  hear  him,  sir,  as 
you  have  heard  him,  when  his  voice  roused  the  spirit  of  his  countrymen  for 
"war — when  he  cheered  the  drooping,  when  he  rallied  the  doubting,  through 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  a  long  and  doubtful  contest.  I  have  never  seen  him, 
sir,  when,  from  the  height  of  the  chair,  he  ruled  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  by  the  energy  of  his  will,  or  when  upon  the  level  of  the  floor  he  exer 
cised  a  control  almost  as  absolute,  by  the  mastery  of  his  intellect.  When  1 
first  knew  him,  his  sun  had  a  little  passed  its  zenith.  The  effacing  hand 
of  time  had  just  begun  to  touch  the  lineaments  of  his  manhood.  But  yet, 
sir,  I  saw  enough  of  him  to  be  able  to  realize  what  he  might  have  been  in 
the  prime  of  his  strength,  and  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  maturity.  I  saw  him, 
sir,  as  you  did,  when  he  led  the  '  Opposition'  during  the  administration  of 
Mr.  Van  Buren.  I  had  daily  opportunities  of  witnessing  the  exhibition  of 
his  powers  during  the  extra  session  under  Mr.  Tyler's  administration.  And 
I  saw,  as  we  all  saw,  in  a  recent  contest,  the  exhibition  of  power  on  hia 
part,  which  was  most  marvelous  in  one  of  his  years. 

"  Mr.  President,  he  may  not  have  had  as  much  of  analytic  skill,  as  some 
others,  in  dissecting  a  subject.  It  may  be,  perhaps,  that  he  did  not  seek  to 
look  quite  so  far  ahead  as  some  who  have  been  most  distinguished  for  poli 
tical  forecast.  But  it  may  be  truly  said  of  Mr.  Clay,  that  he  was  no  exag 
gerator.  He  looked  at  events  through  neither  end  of  the  telescope,  but 
surveyed  them  with  the  natural  and  the  naked  eye.  He  had  the  capacity 
of  seeing  things  as  the  people  saw  them,  and  of  feeling  things  as  the  people 
felt  them.  He  had,  sir,  beyond  any  other  man  whom  I  have  ever  seen,  the 
true  mesmeric  touch  of  the  orator — the  rare  art  of  transferring  his  impulses 
to  others.  Thoughts,  feelings,  emotions,  came  from  the  ready  mould  of  his 
genius,  radiant  and  glowing,  and  communicated  their  own  warmth  to  every 
heart  which  received  them.  His,  too,  wras  the  power  of  wielding  the  high 
er  and  intenser  forms  of  passion  with  a  majesty  and  an  ease  which  none  but 
the  great  masters  of  the  human  heart  can  ever  employ.  It  was  his  rare 
good  fortune  to  have  been  one  of  those  who  form,  as  it  were,  a  sensible  link 
and  a  living  tradition  which  connects  one  age  with  another,  and  through 
which  one  generation  speaks  its  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  appeals  to  an 
other.  And,  unfortunate  is  it  for  a  country,  when  it  ceases  to  possess  such 
men,  for  it  is  to  them  that  we  chiefly  owe  the  capacity  to  maintain  the 
unity  of  the  great  Epos  of  human  history,  and  preserve  the  consistency  of 
political  action. 

"  Sir,  it  may  be  said  that  the  grave  is  still  new-made  which  covers  the 
mortal  remains  of  one  of  those  great  men  who  have  been  taken  from  our 
midst,  and  the  earth  is  soon  to  open  to  receive  another.  I  know  not,  sir, 
whether  it  can  be  said  to  be  a  matter  of  lamentation,  so  far  as  the  dead 
are  concerned,  that  the  thread  of  this  life  has  been  clipped  when  once  it 
has  been  fully  spun.  They  escape  the  infirmities  of  age,  and  they  leave  an 
imperishable  name  behind  them.  The  loss,  sir,  is  not  theirs,  but  ours ;  and 
a  loss  the  more  to  be  lamented  that  we  see  none  to  fill  the  places  thus  made 
vacant  on  the  stage  of  public  affairs.  But  it  may  be  well  for  us,  who  have 
much  more  cause  to  mourn  and  to  lament  such  deaths,  to  pause  amidst  the 
business  of  life  for  the  purpose  of  contemplating  the  spectacle  before  us,  and 
of  drawing  the  moral  from  the  passing  event.  It  is  when  death  seizes  for 
its  victims  those  who  are,  by  'a  head  and  shoulders,  taller  than  all  the 
rest,'  that  we  feel  most  deeply  the  uncertainty  of  human  affairs,  and  that 
'the  glories  of  our  mortal  state  are  shadows,  not  substantial  things.'  It  is, 
sir,  in  such  instances  as  the  present  that  we  can  best  study  by  the  light  of 
example  the  true  object  of  life,  and  the  wisest  ends  of  human  pursuit" 


REMARKS    OF    MR.    HALE    OF    N.    H.  381 

Mr.  HALE.*  "Mr.  President,  I  hope  I  shall  not  be  considered  obtrusive, 
if  on  this  occasion,  for  a  brief  moment,  I  mingle  my  humble  voice  with 
those  that,  with  an  ability  that  I  shall  neither  attempt  nor  hope  to  equal, 
have  sought  to  do  justice  to  the  worth  and  memory  of  the  deceased,  and  at 
the  same  time  appropriately  to  minister  to  the  sympathies  and  sorrows  of  a 
stricken  people.  Sir,  it  is  the  teaching  of  inspiration  that  '  no  man  liveth 
and  no  man  dieth  unto  himself.' 

"  There  is  a  lesson  taught  no  less  in  the  death  than  in  the  life  of  every 
man — eminently  so  in  the  case  of  one  who  has  filled  a  large  space  and  oc 
cupied  a  distinguished  position  in  the  thoughts  and  regard  of  his  fellow- 
men.  Particularly  instructive  at  this  time  is  the  event  which  we  now  de 
plore,  although  the  circumstances  attending  his  decease  are  such  as  are 
calculated  to  assuage  rather  than  aggravate  the  grief  which  it  must  neces 
sarily  cause.  His  time  had  fully  come.  The  three  score  and  ten  marking 
the  ordinary  period  of  human  life  had  for  some  years  been  passed,  and,  full 
of  years  and  of  honors,  he  has  gone  to  his  rest.  And  now,  when  the  nation 
is  marshalling  itself  for  the  contest  which  is  to  decide  '  who  shall  be  great 
est,'  as  if  to  chasten  our  ambition,  to  restrain  and  subdue  the  violence  of 
passion,  to  moderate  our  desires  and  elevate  our  hopes,  we  have  the  spec 
tacle  of  one  who,  by  the  force  of  his  intellect,  and  the  energy  of  his  own 
purpose,  had  achieved  a  reputation  which  the  highest  official  honors  of  the 
Republic  might  have  illustrated,  but  could  not  have  enhanced,  laid  low  in 
death — as  if,  at  the  very  outset  of  this  political  contest,  on  which  the  na 
tion  is  now  entering,  to  teach  the  ambitious  and  aspiring  the  end  of  human 
pursuits  and  earthly  honor.  But,  sir,  I  do  not  intend  to  dwell  on  thai 
moral  which  is  taught  by  the  silent  lips  and  closed  eye  of  the  illustrious 
dead,  with  a  force  such  as  no  man  ever  spoke  with ;  but  I  shall  leave  the 
event,  with  its  silent  and  mute  eloquence,  to  impress  its  own  appropriate 
teachings  on  the  heart. 

"  In  the  long  and  eventful  life  of  Mr.  Clay,  in  the  various  positions  which 
he  occupied,  in  the  many  posts  of  public  duty  which  he  filled,  in  the  many 
exhibitions  which  his  Listory  affords  of  untiring  energy,  of  unsurpassed  elo 
quence,  and  of  devoted  patriotism,  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  different 
minds,  as  they  dwell  upon  the  subject,  were  all  to  select  the  same  incidents 
of  his  life  as  preeminently  calculated  to  challenge  admiration  and  respect. 

"Sir,  my  admiration,  ay,  my  affection,  for  Mr.  Clay  was  won  and  se 
cured  many  years  since,  even  in  my  school-boy  days — when  his  voice  of 
counsel,  encouragement,  and  sympathy,  was  heard  in  the  other  Hall  of  this 
Capitol,  in  behalf  of  the  struggling  colonies  of  the  southern  portion  of  this 
contineat,  who,  in  pursuit  of  their  inalienable  rights,  in  imitation  of  our 
own  forefathers,  had  unfurled  the  banner  of  liberty,  and,  regardless  of  con 
sequences,  had  gallantly  rushed  into  that  contest  where  '  life  is  lost,  or  free 
dom  won.'  And  again,  sir,  when  Greece,  rich  in  the  memories  of  the  past, 
awoke  from  the  slumber  of  ages  of  oppression  and  centuries  of  sham«  and 
resolved 

'  To  call  her  virtues  back,  and  conquer  time  and  fate,' — 

there,  over  the  plains  of  that  classic  land,  above  the  din  of  battle  and  the 
clash  of  arms,  mingling  with  the  shouts  of  the  victors  and  the  groans  of  the 
vanquished,  were  heard  the  thrilling  and  stirring  notes  of  that  same  elo- 
qnence,  excited  by  a  sympathy  which  knew  no  bounds,  wide  as  the  world, 
pleading  the  cause  of  Grecian  liberty  before  the  American  Congress,  as  if  to 
pay  back  to  Greece  the  debt  which  every  patriot  and  orator  felt  was  her 

*  John  P.  Hale  (Free  Soil  Democrat)  of  New  Hampshire. 


382  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

due.  Sir,  in  the  long  and  honorable  career  of  the  deceased,  there 
events  and  circumstances  upon  which  his  friends  and  posterity  will  dwell 
with  satisfaction  and  pride,  but  none  which  will  preserve  his  memory  with 
more  unfading  lustre  to  future  ages  than  the  course  he  pursued  in  the 
Spanish-American  and  Greek  revolutions." 

Mr.  CLEMENS.*  "Mr.  President:  I  should  not  have  thought  it  necessary 
to  add  anything  to  what  has  already  been  said,  but  for  a  request  preferred 
by  some  of  the  friends  of  the  deceased.  I  should  have  been  content  to 
mourn  him  in  silence,  and  leave  it  to  other  tongues  to  pronounce  his  eulogy. 
What  I  have  now  to  say  shall  be  brief — very  brief. 

"  Mr.  President,  it  is  now  less  than  three  short  years  ago  since  I  first 
entered  this  body.  At  that  period  it  numbered  among  its  members  many 
of  the  most  illustrious  statesmen  this  Republic  has  ever  produced,  or  the 
world  has  ever  known.  Of  the  living  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  speak ;  but  in 
that  brief  period  death  has  been  busy  here;  and,  as  if  to  mark  the  feeble 
ness  of  human  things,  his  arrows  have  been  aimed  at  the  highest,  the 
mightiest  of  us  all.  First  died  Calhoun.  And  well,  sir,  do  I  remember  the 
deep  feeling  evinced  on  that  occasion  by  him  whose  death  has  been  an 
nounced  here  to-day,  when  he  said:  'I  was  his  senior  in  years — in  nothing 
else.  In  the  course  of  nature  I  ought  to  have  preceded  him.  It  has  been 
decreed  otherwise :  but  I  know  that  I  shall  linger  here  only  a  short  time, 
and  shall  soon  follow  him.'  It  was  genius  mourning  over  his  younger 
brother,  and  too  surely  predicting  his  own  approaching  end. 

"  He,  too,  sir,  is  now  gone  from  among  us,  and  left  none  like  him  behind. 
That  voice,  whose  every  tone  was  music,  is  hushed  and  still.  That  clear, 
bright  eye,  is  dim  and  lustreless,  and  that  breast,  where  grew  and  flourished 
every  quality  which  could  adorn  and  dignify  our  nature,  is  cold  as  the  clod 
that  soon  must  cover  it.  A  few  hours  have  wrought  a  mighty  change — a 
change  for  which  a  lingering  illness  had,  indeed,  in  some  degree,  prepared 
us,  but  which,  nevertheless,  will  still  fall  upon  the  nation  with  crushing 
force.  Many  a  sorrowing  heart  is  now  asking,  as  I  did  yesterday,  when  I 
heard  the  first  sound  of  the  funeral  bell — 

'And  is  he  gone  ? — the  pure  of  the  purest, 
Tho  hand  that  upheld  our  bright  banner  the  surest, 

Is  he  gone  from  our  struggles  away  ? 
But  yesterday  lending  a  people  new 'life, 

Cold,  mute,  in  the  coifin  to-day.' 

"Mr.  President,  this  is  an  occasion  when  eulogy  must  fail  to  perform  its 
office.  The  long  life  which  is  now  ended  is  a  history  of  glorious  deeds  too 
mighty  for  the  tongue  of  praise.  It  is  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  that 
his  best  epitaph  must  be  written.  It  is  in  the  admiration  of  a  world  that 
his  renown  must  be  recorded.  In  that  deep  love  of  country  which  distin 
guished  every  period  of  his  life,  he  may  not  have  been  unrivaled.  In  lofti 
ness  of  intellect  he  was  not  without  his  peers.  The  skill  with  which  he 
touched  every  chord  of  the  human  heart  may  have  been  equaled.  The  iron 
will,  the  unbending  firmness,  the  fearless  courage,  which  marked  his  char 
acter,  may  have  been  shared  by  others.  But  where  shall  we  go  to  find  all 
those  qualities  united,  concentrated,  blended  into  one  brill:' ant  whole,  and 
shedding  a  lustre  upon  one  single  head,  which  does  not  dazzle  the  beholder 
only  because  it  attracts  his  love  and  demands  his  worship  ? 

"I  scarcely  know,  sir,  how  far  it  maybe  allowable,  upon  an  occasion  like 
this,  to  refer  to  party  struggles  which  have  left  wounds  not  yet  entirely 

*  Jeremiah  Clemens  (Union  Democrat),  of  Alabama. 


REMARKS    OF    MR.    COOPER    OF    PA.  383 

healed.  I  will  venture,  however,  to  suggest,  that  it  should  be  a  source  of 
consolation  to  his  friends  that  he  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  full  accom 
plishment  of  the  last  great  work  of  his  life,  and  to  witness  the  total  disap 
pearance  of  that  sectional  tempest  which  threatened  to  overwhelm  the 
Republic  in  ruins.  Both  the  great  parties  of  the  country  have  agreed  to 
stand  upon  the  platform  which  he  erected,  and  both  of  them  have  solemnly 
pledged  themselves  to  maintain  unimpaired  the  work  of  his  hands,  I  doubt 
not  the  knowledge  of  this  cheered  him  in  his  dying  moments,  and  helped  to 
steal  away  the  pangs  of  dissolution. 

"Mr.  President,  if  I  knew  anything  more  that  I  could  say,  I  would  gladly 
utter  it.  To  me  he  was  something  more  than  kind,  and  I  am  called  upon 
to  mingle  a  private  with  a  public  grief.  I  wish  that  I  could  do  something 
to  add  to  his  fame.  But  he  built  for  himself  a  monument  of  immortality, 
and  left  to  his  friends  no  task  but  that  of  soothing  their  own  sorrow  for  his 
loss.  We  pay  to  him  the  tribute  of  our  tears.  More  we  have  no  power  to 
bestow.  Patriotism,  honor,  genius,  courage,  have  all  come  to  strew  their 
garlands  about  his  tomb ;  and  well  they  may,  for  he  was  the  peer  of  them 
all." 

Mr.  COOPER,*  "  Mr.  President,  it  is  not  always  by  words  that  the  living 
pay  to  the  dead  the  sincerest  and  most  eloquent  tribute.  The  tears  of  a 
nation,  flowing  spontaneously  over  the  grave  of  a  public  benefactor,  is  a 
more  eloquent  testimonial  of  his  worth  and  of  the  affection  and  veneration 
of  his  countrymen,  than  the  most  highly-wrought  eulogium  of  the  most 
gifted  tongue.  The  heart  is  not  necessarily  the  fountain  of  words,  but  it  in 
always  the  source  of  tears,  whether  they  be  of  joy,  gratitude,  or  grief.  But 
sincere,  truthful,  and  eloquent,  as  they  are,  they  leave  no  permanent 
record  of  the  virtues  and  greatness  of  him  on  whose  tomb  they  are  shed. 
As  the  dews  of  heaven  falling  at  night  are  absorbed  by  the  earth,  or  dried 
up  by  the  morning  sun,  so  the  tears  of  a  people,  shed  for  their  benefactor, 
disappear  without  leaving  a  trace  to  tell  the  future  generations  of  the 
services,  sacrifices,  and  virtues,  of  him  to  whose  memory  they  were  a  grate 
ful  tribute.  But  as  homage  paid  to  virtue  is  an  incentive  to  it,  it  is  right 
that  the  memory  of  the  good,  the  great,  and  noble  of  the  earth  should  be 
preserved  and  honored. 

"  The  ambition,  Mr.  President,  of  the  truly  great  is  more  the  hope  of 
living  in  the  memory  and  estimation  of  future  ages  than  of  possessing  power 
in  their  own.  It  is  this  hope  that  stimulates  them  to  perseverance ;  that 
enables  them  to  encounter  disappointment,  ingratitude,  and  neglect,  and  to 
press  on  through  toils,  privations,  and  perils  to  the  end.  It  was  not  the 
hope  of  discovering  a  world,  over  which  he  should  himself  exercise  domin 
ion,  that  sustained  Columbus  in  all  his  trials.  It  was  not  for  this  he  braved 
danger,  disappointment,  poverty,  and  reproach.  It  was  not  for  this  he  sub 
dued  his  native  pride,  wandered  from  kingdom  to  kingdom,  kneeling  ai  the 
feet  of  princes  a  suppliant  for  means  to  prosecute  his  sublime  enterprise.  It 
was  not  for  this,  after  having  at  last  secured  the  patronage  of  Isabella,  that 
he  put  off  in  his  crazy  and  ill-appointed  fleet  into  unknown  seas,  to  struggle 
with  storms  and  tempests,  and  the  rage  of  a  mutinous  crew.  It  was  another 
and  nobler  kind  of  ambition  that  stimulated  him  to  contend  with  terror, 
superstition,  and  despair,  and  to  press  forward  on  his  perilous  course,  when 
the  needle  in  his  compass,  losing  its  polarity  seemed  to  unite  with  the 
fury  of  the  elements  and  the  insubordination  of  his  crew  in  turning  him 
bank  from  his  perilous  but  glorious  enterprise.  It  was  the  hope  which  wai 

*  James  Cooper  (Whig)  of  Pennsylvania. 


384  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

realized  at  last,  when  his  ungrateful  country  was  compelled  to  inscribe,  a* 
an  epitaph  on  his  tomb — 

'  Columbus  has  given  a  new  world  to  the  kingdoms  of  Castile  and  Leon, 

that  enabled  him  at  first  to  brave  so  many  disappointments,  and  at  last  to 
conquer  the  multitude  of  perils  that  beset  his  pathway  on  the  deep.  This, 
sir,  is  the  ambition  of  the  truly  great — not  to  achieve  present  fame,  but 
future  immortality.  This  being  the  case,  it  is  befitting  here  to-day  to  add  to 
the  life  of  Henry  Clay,  the  record  of  his  death,  signalized  as  it  is  by  a 
nation's  gratitude  and  grief.  It  is  right  that  posterity  should  learn  from  us, 
the  cotemporaries  of  the  illustrious  deceased,  that  his  virtues  and  services 
were  appreciated  by  his  country,  and  acknowledged  by  the  tears  of  his 
countrymen  poured  out  upon  his  grave. 

"The  career  of  Henry  Clay  was  a  wonderful  one.  And  what  an  illustra 
tion  of  the  excellence  of  our  institutions  would  a  retrospect  of  his  life  afford! 
Born  in  an  humble  station,  without  any  of  the  adventitious  aids  of  fortune 
by  which  the  obstructions  on  the  road  to  fame  are  smoothed,  he  rose  not 
only  to  the  most  exalted  eminence  of  position,  but  likewise  to  the  highest 
place  in  the  affections  of  his  countrymen.  Taking  into  view  the  disadvan 
tages  of  his  early  position,  disadvantages  against  which  he  had  always  to 
contend,  his  career  is  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  great  men.  To 
have  seen  him  a  youth,  without  friends  or  fortune,  and  with  but  a  scanty 
education,  who  would  have  ventured  to  predict  for  him  a  course  so  brilliant 
and  beneficent,  arid  a  fame  so  well  deserved  and  enduring?  Like  the  pine, 
however,  which  sometimes  springs  up  amidst  the  rocks  on  the  mountain 
side,  with  scarce  a  crevice  in  which  to  fix  its  roots  or  soil  to  nourish  them, 
but  which,  nevertheless,  overtops  all  the  trees  of  the  surrounding  forest, 
Henry  Clay,  by  his  own  inherent,  self-sustaining  energy  and  genius,  rose  to 
an  altitude  of  fame  almost  unequaled  in  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  As  an 
orator,  legislator,  and  statesman,  he  had  no  superior.  All  his  faculties  were 
remarkable,  and  in  remarkable  combination.  Possessed  of  a  brilliant  genius 
and  a  fertile  imagination,  his  judgment  was  sound,  discriminating,  and 
eminently  practical.  Of  an  ardent  and  impetuous  temperament,  he  was 
nevertheless  persevering  and  firm  of  purpose.  Frank,  bold,  and  intrepid, 
he  was  cautious  in  providing  against  the  contingencies  and  obstacles  which 
might  possibly  rise  up  in  the  road  to  success.  Generous,  liberal,  and  enter 
taining  broad  and  expanded  views  of  national  policy,  in  his  legislative 
course  he  never  transcended  the  limits  of  a  wise  economy. 

"But,  Mr.  President,  of  all  his  faculties,  that  of  making  friends  and  attach 
ing  them  to  him  was  the  most  remarkable  and  extraordinary.  In  this 
respect,  he  seemed  to  possess  a  sort  of  fascination,  by  which  all  who  came 
into  his  presence  were  attracted  toward  and  bound  to  him  by  ties  which 
neither  time  nor  circumstances  had  power  to  dissolve  or  weaken.  In  the 
admiration  of  his  friends  was  the  recognition  of  the  divinity  of  intellect ;  in 
their  attachment  to  him  a  confession  of  his  generous  personal  qualities  and 
social  virtues. 

"Of  the  public  services  of  Mr.  Clay,  the  present  occasion  affords  no  room 
for  a  sketch  more  extended  than  that  which  his  respected  colleague  [Mr. 
Underwood]  has  presented.  It  is,  however,  sufficient  to  say,  that  for  more 
than  forty  years  he  has  been  a  prominent  actor  in  the  drama  of  American 
affairs.  During  the  late  war  with  England  his  voice  was  more  potent  than 
any  other  in  awakening  the  spirit  of  the  country,  infusing  confidence  into 
the  people,  and  rendering  available  their  resources  for  carrying  on  the  contest. 
In  our  domestic  controversies,  threatening  the  peace  of  the  country  and  the 


REMARKS    OF    MR.    SEWARD.  385 

integrity  of  the  Union,  he  has  always  been  first  to  note  danger  as  well  as  to 
suggest  the  means  of  averting  it.  When  the  waters  .of  the  great  political 
deep  were  upheaved  by  the  tempest  of  discord,  and  the  ark  of  the  Union, 
freighted  with  the  hopes  and  destinies  of  freedom,  tossing  about  on  the 
raging  billows,  and  drifting  every  moment  nearer  to  the  vortex  which 
threatened  to  swallow  it  up,  it  was  his  clarion  voice,  rising  above  the  storm, 
that  admonished  the  crew  of  impending  peril,  and  counseled  the  way  to 
safety. 

"But,  Mr.  President,  devotedly  as  he  loved  his  country,  his  aspirations 
were  not  limited  to  its  welfare  alone.  Wherever  freedom  had  a  votary,  that 
votary  had  a  friend  in  Henry  Clay ;  and  in  the  struggle  of  the  Spanish 
colonies  for  independence,  he  uttered  words  of  encouragement  which  have 
become  the  mottoes  on  the  banners  of  freedom  in  every  land.  But  neither 
the  services  which  he  has  rendered  his  own  country,  nor  his  wishes  for  the 
welfare  of  others,  nor  his  genius,  nor  the  affection  of  friends,  could  turn  aside 
the  destroyer.  No  price  could  purchase  exemption  from  the  common  lot  of 
humanity.  Henry  Clay,  the  wise,  the  great,  the  gifted,  had  to  die ;  and  his 
history  is  summed  up  in  the  biography  which  the  Russian  poet  has  prepared 
for  all,  kings  and  serfs,  viz: — 

'  Born,  living,  dying. 

Quitting  the  still  shore  for  the  troubled  wave, 
Struggling  with  storm-clouds,  over  shipwrecks  flying, 
And  casting  anchor  in  the  silent  grave.' 

"But  though  time  would  not  spare  him,  there  is  still  this  of  consolation: 
He  died  peacefully  and  happy,  ripe  in  renown,  full  of  years  and  of  honors, 
and  rich  in,  the  affections  of  his  country.  He  enjoyed,  too,  the  unspeakable 
satisfaction  of  closing  his  eyes  while  the  country  he  had  loved  so  much  and 
served  so  well  was  still  in  the  enjoyment  of  peace,  happiness,  union,  and 
prosperity — still  advancing  in  all  the  elements  of  wealth,  greatness,  and 
power. 

"I  know,  Mr.  President,  how  unequal  I  have  been  to  the  apparently  self- 
imposed  task  of  presenting,  in  an  appropriate  manner,  the  merits  of  the 
illustrious  deceased.  '  But  if  I  had  remained  silent  on  an  occasion  like  this, 
when  the  hearts  of  my  constituents  are  swelling  with  grief,  I  would  have 
been  disowned  by  them.  It  is  for  this  reason — that  of  giving  utterance  to 
their  feelings  as  well  as  of  my  own — that  I  have  trespassed  on  the  time  of 
the  Senate.  I  would  that  I  could  have  spoken  fitter  words ;  but,  such  as 
they  are,  they  were  uttered  by  the  tongue  in  response  to  the  promptings  of 
the  heart" 

MR.  SEWARD.*  "Mr.  President,  fifty  years  ago,  Henry  Clay,  of  Virginia, 
already  adopted  by  Kentucky,  then  as  youthful  as  himself,  entered  the  service 
of  his  country,  a  Representative  in  the  unpretending  Legislature  of  that 
rising  State  ;  and  having  thenceforward  pursued,  with  ardor  and  constancy, 
the  gradual  paths  of  an  aspiring  change  through  Halls  of  Congress,  foreign 
courts,  and  Executive  councils,  he  has  now,  with  the  cheerfulness  of  a  patriot, 
and  the  serenity  of  a  Christian,  fitly  closed  his  long  and  arduous  career,  here 
in  the  Senate,  in  the  full  presence  of  the  Republic,  locking  down  upon  the 
scene  with  anxiety  and  alarm — not  merely  a  Senator  like  one  of  us  who  yet 
remain  in  the  Senate-House,  but  filling  that  character  which,  though  it  ha^ 
no  authority  of  law  and  was  assigned  without  suffrage,  Augustus  Caesar 
nevertheless  declared  was  above  the  title  of  Emperor,  Primus  inter  Jllustreg 
— the  Prince  of  the  Senate. 

*  William  H.  Seward  (Free  Soil  Whig),  of  New  York. 

o.  25 


S86  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"Geneials  are  tried,  Mr.  President,  by  examining  the  campaigns  they 
nave  lost  or  won,  and  Statesmen  by  reviewing  the  transactions  in  which  they 
have  been  engaged.  Hamilton  would  have  been  unknown  to  us  had  there 
been  no  Constitution  to  be  created,  as  Brutus  would  have  died  in  obscurity 
had  there  been  no  Ctesar  to  be  slain. 

"  Colonization,  Revolution,  and  Organization — three  great  acts  in  the 
drama  of  our  national  progress — had  already  passed  when  the  Western  pa 
triot  appeared  on  the  public  stage.  He  entered  in  that  next  division  of  the 
majestic  scenes  which  was  marked  by  an  inevitable  reaction  of  political 
forces,  a  wild  strife  of  factions,  and  ruinous  embarrassments  in  our  foreign 
relations.  This  transition  stage  is  always  more  perilous  than  any  other  in 
the  career  of  nations,  and  especially  in  the  career  of  Republics.  It  proved 
fatal  to  the  Commonwealth  of  England.  Scarcely  any  of  the  Spanish- Ameri 
can  States  has  yet  emerged  from  it ;  and  it  has  more  than  once  been  sadly 
signalized  by  the  ruin  of  the  Republican  cause  in  France. 

"The  continuous  administration  of  Washington  and  John  Adams,  had 
closed  under  a  cloud  which  had  thrown  a  broad,  dark  shadow  over  the 
future ;  the  nation  was  deeply  indebted  at  home  and  abroad,  and  its  credit 
was  prostrate.  The  revolutionary  factions  had  given  place  to  two  inveterate 
parties,  divided  by  a  gulf  which  had  been  worn  by  the  conflict  in  which  the 
Constitution  was  adopted,  and  made  broader  and  deeper  by  a  war  of  prej 
udices  concerning  the  merits  of  the  belligerents  in  the  great  European 
struggle  that  then  convulsed  the  civilized  world.  Our  extraordinary  political 
system  was  little  more  than  an  ingenious  theory,  not  yet  practically  estab 
lished.  The  Union  of  the  States  was  as  yet  only  one  of  compact ;  for  the 
political,  social,  and  commercial  necessities  to  which  it  was  so  marvelously 
adapted,  and  which,  clustering  thickly  upon  it,  now  render  it  indissoluble, 
had  not  then  been  broadly  disclosed,  nor  had  the  habits  of  acquiescence,  and 
the  sentiments  of  loyalty,  always  slow  of  growth,  fully  ripened.  The  bark 
that  had  gone  to  sea,  thus  unfurnished  and  untried,  seemed  quite  certain  to 
founder  by  reason  of  its  own  inherent  frailty,  even  if  it  should  escape  un 
harmed  in  the  great  conflict  of  nations,  which  acknowledged  no  claims  of 
justice,  and  tolerated  no  pretensions  of  neutrality.  Moreover,  the  territory 
possessed  by  the  nation  was  inadequate  to  commercial  exigencies,  and  indis 
pensable  social  expansion;  and  yet  no  provision  had  bean  made  for  enlarge 
ment,  nor  for  extending  the  political  system  over  distant  regions,  inhabited 
or  otherwise,,  which  must  inevitably  be  acquired.  ISTor  could  any  such  ac 
quisition  be  made  without  disturbing  the  carefully- adjusted  balance  of 
powers  among  the  members  of  the  Confederacy. 

"  These  difficulties,  Mr.  President,  although  they  grew  less  with  time  and 
by  slow  degrees,  continued  throughout  the  whole  life  of  the  Statesman  whose 
obsequies  we  are  celebrating.  Be  it  known,  then — and  I  am  sure  that  his 
tory  will  confirm  the  instruction — that  conservatism  was  the  interest  of  the 
nation,  and  the  responsibility  of  its  rulers,  during  the  period  in  which  he 
floui'ished.  He  was  ardent,  bold,  generous,  and  even  ambitious ;  and  .yet, 
With  a  profound  conviction  of  the  true  exigencies  of  the  country,  like  Alex 
ander  Hamilton,  he  disciplined  himself,  and  trained  a  restless  nation,  that 
knew  only  self-control,  to  the  rigorous  practice  of  that  often  humiliating  con 
servatism  which  its  welfare  and  security  in  that  peculiar  crisis  so  imperiously 
demanded. 

"  It  could  not  have  happened,  sir,  to  any  citizen  to  have  acted  alone,  nor 
even  to  have  acted  always  the  most  conspicuous  part  in  a  trying  period  so 
long  protracted.  Henry  Clay,  therefore,  shared  the  responsibilities  of  Gov 
ernment  with  not  only  his  proper  cotemporaries,  but  also  survivors  of  the 


SEWARD    ON    NATIONAL    PROGRESS.  (o7 

Revolution,  as  well  as  also  many  who  will  now  succeed  himself.  T.  cacy 
forbids  my  naming  those  who  retain  their  places  here  ;  but  we  may,  '  nhout 
impropriety,  recall  among  his  compeers  a  Senator  of  vast  resources  nd  in 
flexible  resolve,  who  has  recently  withdrawn  from  this  Chamber,  bi  I  trust 
not  altogether  from  public  life  (Mr.  Benton) ;  and  another,  who,  SUT  >assing 
all  his  cotemporaries  within  his  country,  and  even  throughout  the  world, 
in  the  proper  eloquence  of  the  forum,  now,  in  autumnal  years,  for  u  second 
time,  dignifies  and  adorns  the  highest  seat  in  the  Executive  Council  (Mr. 
Webster).  Passing  by  these  eminent  and  noble  men,  the  shades  of  Calhoun, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  Jackson,  Monroe,  Madison,  and  Jefferson,  rise, up  before 
us — Statesmen  whose  living  and  local  fame  has  ripened  already  in'o  his 
torical  and  world-wide  renown. 

"Among  geniuses  so  lofty  as  these,  Henry  Clay  bore  a  part  in  regulating 
the  constitutional  freedom  of  political  debate  ;  establishing  that  long-con 
tested  and  most  important  line  which  divides  the  sovereignty  of  the  several 
States  from  that  of  the  States  confederated ;  asserting  the  right  of  neutrality, 
and  vindicating  it  by  a  war  against  Great  Britain,  when  that  just  but  ex 
treme  measure  became  necessary ;  adjusting  the  terms  on  which  that  perilous, 
yet  honorable  contest,  was  brought  to  a  peaceful  close ;  perfecting  the  Army, 
and  the  Navy,  and  national  fortifications :  settling  the  f  seal  and  financial 
policy  of  the  Government  in  more  than  one  crisis  of  apparently-threatened 
revolution ;  asserting  and  calling  into  exercise  the  powers  of  the  Govern 
ment  for  making  and  improving  internal  communications  between  the  States; 
arousing  and  encouraging  the  Spanish- American  colonies  on  this  continent 
to  throw  off  the  foreign  yoke,  and  to  organize  governments  on  principles 
congenial  to  our  own,  and  thus  creating  external  bulwarks  for  our  own  na 
tional  defence;  establishing  equal  and  impartial  peace  and  amity  with  all 
existing  maritime  Powers ;  and  extending  the  constitutional  organization  of 
Government  over  vast  regions,  all  secured  in  his  lifetime  by  purchase  or  by 
conquest,  whereby  the  pillars  of  the  Republic  have  been  removed  from  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Mary's  to  the  borders  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  from  the 
margin  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific  coast.  We  may  not  yet  discuss  the 
wisdom  of  the  several  measures  which  have  thus  passed  in  review  before  us, 
nor  of  the  positions  which  the  deceased  Statesman  assumed  in  regard  to  them, 
but  we  may,  without  offence,  dwell  upon  the  comprehensive  results  rf  them 
all. 


"The  Union  exists  in  absolute  integrity,  and  the  Republic  in  complete  and 

fiumphant  development.     Without  having  relinquished  any  part  of  their 

individuality,  the  States  have  more  than  doubled  already,  and  are  increasing 


in  numbers  and  growing  in  political  strength  and  expansion  more  rapidly 
than  ever  before.  Without  having  absorbed  any  State,  or  having  even  en 
croached  on  any  State,  the  Confederation  has  opened  itself  so  as  to  embrace 
all  the  new  members  who  have  come  ;  and  now,  with  capacity  for  further  and 
indefinite  enlargement,  has  become  fixed,  enduring,  and  perpetual.  Although 
it  was  doubted,  only  half  a  century  ago,  whether  our  political  system  could 
be  maintained  at  all,  and  whether,  if  maintained,  it  could  guaranty  the 
peace  and  happiness  of  society,  it  stands  now  confessed  by  the  world  the 
form  of  government  not  only  most  adapted  to  empire,  but  also  most  con 
genial  with  the  constitution  of  human  nature. 

"  When  we  consider  that  the  nation  has  been  conducted  to  this  haven,  not 
only  through  stormy  seas,  but  altogether  also  without  a  course  and  without 
a  star;  and  when  we  consider,  moreover,  the  sum  of  happiness  that  has 
already  been  enjoyed  by  the  American  people,  and  still  more  the  influence 
which  the  great  achievements  is  exerting  on  the  advancement  and  meliora 


388  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

tion  of  the  condition  of  mankind,  we  see  at  once  that  it  might  have  satisfied 
the  highest  ambition  to  have  been,  no  matter  how  humbly,  concerned  in  so 
great  a  transaction. 

"  Certainly,  sir,  no  one  will  assert  that  Henry  Clay  in  that  transaction 
performed  an  obscure  or  even  a  common  part.  On  the  contrary,  from  the 
day  on  which  he  entered  the  public  service,  until  that  on  which  he  passed 
the  gates  of  death,  he  was  never  a  follower,  but  always  a  leader:  and  he 
marshaled  either  the  party  which  sustained,  or  that  which  resisted,  every 
great  measure,  equally  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  popular  canvass.  And  he 
led  where  duty  seemed  to  him  to  indicate,  reckless  whether  he  encountered 
one  President  or  twenty  Presidents,  whether  he  was  opposed  by  factions  or 
even  by  the  whole  people.  Hence  it  has  happened  that,  although  that  peo 
ple  are  not  yet  agreed  among  themselves  on  the  wisdom  of  all  or  perhaps 
of  even  any  of  his  great  measures,  yet  they  are  nevertheless  unanimous  in 
acknowledging  that  he  was  at  once  the  greatest,  the  most  faithful,  and  the 
most  reliable  of  their  statesmen.  Here  the  effort  at  discriminating  praise 
of  Henry  Clay  in  regard  to  his  public  policy  must  stop,  even  on  this  sad  oc 
casion,  which  awakens  the  ardent  liberality  of  his  generous  survivors. 

"  But  ^  his  personal  qualities  may  be  discussed  without  apprehension. 
What  were  the  elements  of  the  success  of  that  extraordinary  man  ?  You, 
sir,  knew  him  longer  and  better  than  I,  and  I  would  prefer  to  hear  you 
speak  of  them.  He  was  indeed  eloquent — all  the  world  knows  that  He 
held  the  keys  to  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  and  he  turned  the  wards 
within  them  with  a  skill  attained  by  no  other  master. 

"  But  eloquence  was  nevertheless  only  an  instrument,  and  one  of  many 
that  he  used.  His  conversation,  his  gestures,  his  very  look,  was  magisterial, 
persuasive,  seductive,  irresistible.  And  his  appliance  of  all  these  was  cour 
teous,  patient,  and  indefatigable.  Defeat  only  inspired  him  with  new  reso 
lution.  He  divided  opposition  by  his  assiduity  of  address,  while  he  rallied 
and  strengthened  his  own  bands  of  supporters  by  the  confidence  of  success 
which,  feeling  himself,  he  easily  inspired  among  his  followers.  His  affections 
were  high,  and  pure,  and  generous,  and  the  chiefest  among  them  was  that 
one  which  the  great  Italian  poet  designated  as  the  charity  of  native  land. 
In  him  that  charity  was  an  enduring  and  overpowering  enthusiasm,  and  it 
influenced  all  his  sentiments  and  conduct;  rendering  him  more  impartial  be 
tween  conflicting  interests  and  sections,  than  any  other  statesman  who  has 
lived  since  the  Revolution.  Thus  with  great  versatility  of  talent,  and  the 
most  catholic  equality  of  favor,  he  identified  every  question,  whether  of  do 
mestic  administration  or  foreign  policy,  with  his  own  great  name,  and  so 
became  a  perpetual  Tribune  of  the  people.  He  needed  only  to  pronounce 
in  favor  of  a  measure  or  against  it,  here,  and  immediately  popular  enthusi 
asm,  excited  as  by  a  magic  wand,  was  felt,  overcoming  "and  dissolving  all 
opposition  in  the  Senate-Chamber. 

"  In  this  way  he  wrought  a  change  in  our  political  system,  that  I  think 
was  not  foreseen  by  its  founders.  He  converted  this  branch  of  the  Legis 
lature  from  a  negative  position,  or  one  of  equilibrium  between  the  Executive 
and  the  House  of  Representatives,  into  the  active  ruling  power  of  the  Re 
public.  Only  time  can  disclose  whether  this  great  innovation  shall  be 
beneficent,  or  even  permanent. 

"Certainly,  sir,  the  great  lights  of  the  Senate  have  set.  The  obscuration 
:s  not  less  palpable  to  the  country  than  to  us,  who  are  left  to  grope  our  un 
certain  way  here,  as  in  a  labyrinth,  oppressed  with  self-distrust.  The  time, 
too,  presents  new  embarrassments.  We  are  rising  to  another  and  more 
eublime  stage  of  national  progress — that  of  expanding  wealth  and  rapid 
territorial  aggrandizement. 


EULOGY    OF    MR.    G.    W.    JONES.  389 

Our  institutions  throw  a  broad  shadow  across  the  St.  Lawrence,  and, 
stretching  beyond  the  valley  of  Mexico,  reach  even  to  the  plains  of  Cen 
tral  America,  while  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  the  shores  of  China  rec 
ognize  their  renovating  influence.  Wherever  that  influence  is  felt,  a 
desire  for  protection  under  those  institutions  is  awakened.  Expansion, 
seems  to  be  regulated  not  by  any  difficulties  of  resistance,  but  by  the 
\noderation  which  results  from  our  own  internal  constitution.  No  one 
knows  how  rapidly  that  restraint  may  give  way.  Who  can  tell  how  far 
or  how  fast  it  ought  to  yield?  Commerce  has  brought  the  ancient  conti 
nents  near  to  us,  and  created  necessities  for  new  positions — perhaps  connec 
tions  or  colonies  there — and  with  the  trade  and  friendship  of  the  elder  na 
tions  their  conflicts  and  collisions  are  brought  to  our  doors  and  to  our 
hearts.  Our  sympathy  kindles,  or  indifference  extinguishes,  the  fires  of 
freedom  in  foreign  lands.  Before  we  shall  be  fully  conscious  that  a  change 
is  going  on  in  Europe,  we  may  find  ourselves  once  more  divided  by  that 
eternal  line  of  separation  that  leaves  on  the  one  side  those  of  our  citizens 
who  obey  the  impulses  of  sympathy,  while  on  the  other  are  found  those 
who  submit  only  to  the  counsels  of  prudence.  Even  prudence  will  soon  be 
required  to  decide  whether  distant  regions,  East  and  West,  shall  come  un 
der  our  own  protection,  or  be  left  to  aggrandize  a  rapidly-spreading  domain 
of  hostile  despotism. 

"  Sir,  who  among  us  is  equal  to  these  mighty  questions  ?  I  fear  there  is 
no  one.  Nevertheless,  the  example  of  Henry  Clay  remains  for  our  instruc 
tion.  His  genius  has  passed  to  the  realms  of  light,  but  his  virtues  still  live 
here  for  our  emulation.  With  them  there  will  remain  also  the  protection 
and  favor  of  the  Most  High,  if  by  the  practice  of  justice  and  the  maintenance 
of  freedom  we  shall  deserve  them.  Let,  then,  the  bier  pass  on.  We  will 
follow  with  sorrow,  but  not  without  hope,  the  reverend  form  that  it  bears 
to  its  final  resting-place ;  and  then,  when  that  grave  opens  at  our  feet  to 
receive  so  estimable  a  treasure,  we  will  invoke  the  God  of  our  fathers  to 
send  us  new  guides,  like  him  that  is  now  withdrawn,  and  give  us  wisdom 
to  obey  their  instructions." 

Mr.  G.  W.  JONES.*  "Mr.  President:  Of  the  vast  number  who  mourn  the 
departure  of  the  great  man  whose  voice  has  so  often  been  heard  in  this  Hall, 
I  have  peculiar  cause  to  regret  that  dispensation  which  has  removed  him 
from  among  us.  He  was  the  guardian  and  director  of  my  collegiate  days; 
four  of  his  sons  were  my  college  mates  and  warm  friends.  My  intercourse 
with  the  father  was  that  of  a  youth  and  a  friendly  adviser.  I  shall  never 
cease  to  feel  grateful  to  him — to  his  now  heart-stricken  and  bereaved  wid 
ow  and  children,  for  their  many  kindnesses  to  me  during  four  or  five  years 
of  my  life.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  renewing  my  acquaintance  with  him, 
first>  as  a  delegate  in  Congress,  while  he  was  a  member  of  this  body  from 
1835  to  1839,  and  again  in  1848,  as  a  member  of  this  branch  of  Congress; 
and  during  the  whole  of  which  period,  some  eight  years,  none  but  the  most 
kindly  feeling  existed  between  us. 

"As  an  humble  and  unimportant  Senator,  it  was  my  fortune  to  cooperate 
with  him  throughout  the  whole  of  the  exciting  session  of  1849-'50 — the 
labor  and  excitement  of  which  is  said  to  have  precipitated  his  decease. 
That  cooperation  did  not  end  with  the  accordant  vote  on  this  floor,  but,  in 
consequence  of  the  unyielding  opposition  to  the  series  of  measn^a  known 
as  the  'Compromise,'  extended  to  many  private  meetings  heW  bp  its 
friends,  at  all  of  which  Mr.  Clay  was  present  And  whether  in  publie  of 
*  George  W.  Jones  (Democrat),  of  Iowa. 


390  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

private  life,  he  everywhere  continued  to  inspire  me  with  the  most  exalted 
estimate  of  his  patriotism  and  statesmanship.  Never  shall  I  forget  the 
many  ardent  appeals  he  made  to  Senators,  in  and  out  of  the  Senate,  in  favor 
of  the  settlement  of  our  then  unhappy  sectional  differences. 

"  Immediately  after  the  close  of  that  memorable  session  of  Congress,  du 
ring  which  the  nation  beheld  his  great  and  almost  superhuman  efforts  upon 
this  floor  to  sustain  the  wise  counsels  of  the  '  Father  of  his  Country,'  I  ac 
companied  him  home  to  Ashland,  at  his  invitation,  to  revisit  the  place 
where  my  h-^piest  days  had  been  spent,  with  the  friends  who  there  con 
tinued  to  reside.  During  that,  to  me,  most  agreeable  and  instructive 
journey,  in  many  conversations,  he  evinced  the  utmost  solicitude  for  the 
welfare  and  honor  of  the  Republic,  all  tending  to  show  that  he  believed  the 
happiness  of  the  people  and  the  cause  of  liberty  throughout  the  world  de 
pended  upon  the  continuance  of  our  glorious  Union,  and  the  avoidance  of 
those  sectional  dissensions  which  could  but  alienate  the  affections  of  one 
portion  of  the  people  from  another.  With  the  sincerity  and  fervor  of  a 
true  patriot,  he  warned  his  companions  in  that  journey  to  withhold  all  aid 
from  men  who  labored,  and  from  every  cause  which  tended,  to  sow  the 
seeds  of  disunion  in  the  land ;  and  to  oppose  such,  he  declared  himself  will 
ing  to  forego  all  the  ties  and  associations  of  mere  party. 

"  At  a  subsequent  period,  sir,  this  friend  of  my  youth,  at  my  earnest  and  re 
peated  entreaties,  consented  to  take  a  sea-voyage  from  New  York  to  Ha 
vana.  He  remained  at  the  latter  place  a  lortnight,  and  then  returned  by 
New  Orleans  to  Ashland.  That  excursion  by  sea,  he  assured  me,  contribu 
ted  much  to  relieve  him  from  the  sufferings  occasioned  by  the  disease 
which  has  just  terminated  his  eventful  and  glorious  life.  Would  to  Heaven 
that  he  could  have  been  persuaded  to  abandon  his  duties  as  a  Senator,  and  to 
have  remained  during  the  past  winter  and  spring  upon  that  Island  of  Cuba ! 
The  country  would  not  now,  perhaps,  have  been  called  to  mourn  his  loss. 

"  In  some  matters  of  policy  connected  with  the  administration  of  our 
General  Government,  I  have  disagreed  with  him,  yet  the  purity  and  sin 
cerity  of  his  motives  I  have  never  doubted ;  and  as  a  true  lover  of  his 
country,  as  an  honorable  and  honest  man,  I  trust  his  example  will  be  rever 
enced  and  followed  by  the  men  of  this  and  of  succeeding  generations." 

Mr.  BROOKE.*  "Mr.  President:  As  an  ardent  personal  admirer  and  poli 
tical  friend  of  the  distinguished  dead,  I  claim  the  privilege  of  adding  my 
humble  tribute  of  respect  to  his  memory,  and  of  joining  in  the  general  ex 
pression  of  sorrow  that  has  gone  forth  from  this  Chamber.  Death,  at  all 
times,  is  an  instructive  monitor  as  well  as  a  mournful  messenger ;  but  when 
his  fatal  shaft  hath  stricken  down  the  great  in  intellect  and  renown,  how 
doubly  impressive  the  lesson  that  it  brings  home  to  the  heart  that  the  grave 
is  the  common  lot  of  all — the  great  leveler  of  all  earthly  distinctions !  But 
at  the  same  time  we  are  taught  that  in  one  sense  the  good  and  great  can 
never  die ;  for  the  memory  of  their  virtues  and  their  bright  example  will 
live  through  all  coming  time  in  an  immortality  that  blooms  beyond  the 
grave.  The  consolation  of  this  thought  may  calm  our  sorrow ;  and,  in  the 
language  of  one  of  our  own  poets,  it  may  be  asked  : — 

1  Why  weep  ye,  then,  for  him,  who,  having  run 
The  hound  of  man's  appointed  years,  at  last, 
Life's  blessings  all  enjoyed,  life's  labors  done, 
Serenely  to  his  final  rest  has  passed  ; 
While  the  soft  memory  of  his  virtues  yet 
Lingers,  like  twilight  hues  when  the  bright  sun  has  set  f 

*  Walter  Brooke  (Union,  late  Whig),  of  Mississippi. 


EULOGY  OF  MR.  BROOKE  OF  MISS.  391 

"  It  would  be  doing  no  injustice,  sir,  to  the  living  or  the  dead  to  say  that 
no  better  specimen  of  the  true  American  character  can  be  found  in  our  his 
tory  than  that  of  Mr.  Clay.  With  no  adventitious  advantages  of  birth  or 
fortune,  he  won  his  way  by  the  efforts  of  his  own  genius  to  the  highest 
distinction  and  honor.  Ardently  attached  to  the  principles  of  civil  and  re 
ligious  liberty,  patriotism  was  with  him  both  a  passion  and  a  sentiment — a 
passion  that  gave  energy  to  his  ambition,  and  a  sentiment  that  pervaded  all 
his  thoughts  and  actions,  concentrating  them  upon  his  country  as  the  idol 
of  his  heart  The  bold  and  manly  frankness  in  the  expression  of  his  opin 
ions  which  always  characterized  him  has  often  been  the  subject  of  remark ; 
and  in  all  his  victories  it  may  be  truly  said  he  never  '  stooped  to  conquer.' 
In  his  long  and  brilliant  political  career,  personal  considerations  never  for 
a  single  instant  caused  him  to  swerve  from  the  strict  line  of  duty,  and  none 
have  ever  doubted  his  deep  sincerity  in  that  memorable  expression  to  Mr. 
Preston,  '  Sir,  I  had  rather  be  right  than  be  President.' 

"This  is  not  the  time  nor  the  occasion,  sir,  to  enter  into  a  detail  of  the 
public  services  of  Mr.  Clay,  interwoven  as  they  are  with  the  history  of  thf 
country  for  half  a  century ;  but  I  can  not  refrain  from  adverting  to  the  lasl 
crowning  act  of  his  glorious  life — his  great  effort  in  the  Thirty-first  Con 
gress  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  integrity  of  this  great  Republic — 
as  it  was  this  effort  that  shattered  his  bodily  strength  and  hastened  the  con 
summation  of  death.  The  Union  of  the  States,  as  being  essential  to  our 
prosperity  and  happiness,  was  the  paramount  proposition  in  his  political 
creed,  and  the  slightest  symptom  of  danger  to  its  perpetuity  filled  him  with 
alarm,  and  called  forth  all  the  energies  of  his  body  and  mind.  In  his 
earlier  life  he  had  met  this  danger  and  overcome  it.  In  the  conflict  of  con 
tending  factions  it  again  appeared;  and,  coming  forth  from  the  repose  of 
private  life,  to  which  age  and  infirmity  had  carried  him,  with  unabated 
strength  of  intellect,  he  again  entered  upon  the  arena  of  political  strife, 
and  again  success  crowned  his  efforts,  and  peace  and  harmony  were  restored 
to  a  distracted  people.  But,  unequal  to  the  mighty  struggle,  his  bodily 
strength  sank  beneath  it,  and  he  retired  from  the  field  of  his  glory  to  yield 
up  his  life  as  a  holy  sacrifice  to  his  beloved  country.  It  has  well  been  said 
that  peace  has  its  victories  as  well  as  war ;  and  how  bright  upon  the  page 
of  history  will  be  the  record  of  this  great  victory  of  intellect,  of  reason,  and 
of  moral  suasion,  over  the  spirit  of  discord  and  sectional  animosities ! 

"We  this  day,  Mr.  President,  commit  his  memory  to  the  regard  and  affec 
tion  of  his  admiring  countrymen.     It  is  a  consolation  to  them  and  to  us  to 
know  that  he  died  in  full  possession  of  his  glorious  intellect,  and,  what  is 
better,  in  the  enjoyment  of  that  'peace  which  the  world  can  neither  give* 
nor  take  away.     He  sank  to  rest  as  the  full-orbed  king  of  day,  unshorn  of 
a  single  beam,  or  rather  like  the  planet  of  morning,  his  brightness  was  but 
eclipsed  by  the  opening  to  him  of  a  more  full  and  perfect  day — 
'  No  waning  of  fire,  no  paling  of  ray, 
But  rising,  still  rising,  as  passing  away, 
Farewell,  gallant  eagle,  thou'rt  buried  in  light- 
God  speed  thee  to  heaven,  lost  star  of  our  night.'  " 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted,  and,  in  pursuance 
thereof,  the  President  pro  tern,  made  the  following  appoint 
ments  :  — 

Committee  of  Arrangements : 

Mr.  Hunter,  Me  Jones,  of  Iowa,  Mr.  Bright* 

Mr.  Dawson,  Mr  Coope-,  Mr.  Smith. 


392  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY 

Pall-Bearers : 

Mr.  Cass,  Mr.  Dodge,  of  Wis.,  Mr.  Atchison, 

Mr.  Mangum,  Mr.  Pratt,  Mr.  BelL 

Committee  to  attend  the  remains  of  the  deceased  to  Kentucky: 
Mr.  Underwood,  Mr.  Cass,  Mr.  Houston, 

Mr.  Jones,  of  Tenn.,          Mr.  Fish,  Mr.  Stockton. 

On  motion  by  Mr.  Underwood,  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  as  an  additional  mark  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  th« 
Senate  do  now  adjourn." 


The  House  met  at  the  usual  hour,  but  was  not  called  to  order 
till  ten  minutes  past  two  o'clock,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of 
Mr.  Clay,  the  formal  announcement  of  which  was  to  be  received 
from  the  Senate. 

Rev.  C.  M.  Butler  (Chaplain),  then  addressed  the  Throne  of 
Grace  as  follows  : 

"  Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  we  beseech  Thee  to  look  upon  us 
in  love,  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  bestow  upon  us  Thy  blessing.  Take 
us  as  a  nation  into  Thy  holy  keeping.  Bless  the  President  and  Congress  of 
these  United  States,  and  all  who  are  in  authority;  enable  them  faithfully 
and  fraternally  to  accomplish  Thy  will,  that  they  may  enjoy  Thy  perpetual 
benediction. 

"Heavenly  Father,  Thou  hast  in  thy  wise  Providence  seen  fit  to  take  out 
of  this  world  the  soul  of  him  at  whose  departure  a  nation  weeps.  We  bow 
in  resignation  to  Thy  blessed  will,  and  acknowledge  that  Thou  doest  all  things 
well.  "We  thank  Thee  for  the  signal  public  services  which  the  departed 
statesman,  whose  death  we  mourn  to-day,  was  permitted  to  render  to  his 
country.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  circumstances  of  mercy  and  consolation 
connected  with  his  sickness  and  his  death.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  grace 
that  sustained  him  in  submissive  patience  amidst  his  protracted  suffering, 
and  for  the  testimony  which  Thou  didst  enable  him  to  give  to  the  power  and 
excellency  of  thy  gospel.  We  bless  Thee  that  we  are  permitted  to  think  of 
him,  whose  long  suffering  we  mourn,  as  now  resting  in  the  peace  and  para 
dise  of  God. 

"  We  commend  to  Thy  fatherly  care  the  bereaved  wife,  the  children  and 
the  relatives  of  the  departed.  Kemember  them,  0  Lord,  in  mercy.  Sanctify 
Thy  fatherly  correction  to  them.  Endow  their  souls  with  patience  under 
their  affliction,  and  with  resignation  to  Thy  blessed  will.  Comfort  them 
•with  a  sense  of  Thy  goodness,  and  enable  them  to  prepare  to  follow  him 
who  has  gone  before  them  to  that  better  world,  where  God  wipes  away  all 
tears  from  those  whom  death  has  swallowed  up  in  victory. 

"We  beseech  Thee  to  bless  this  dispensation  of  Thy  Providence  to  the 
members  of  this  Congress  here  and  now  assembled,  and  to  all  who  are 
engaged  in  the  public  service.  Teach  them  that  the  glory  of  man  is  as  the 
flower  of  the  grass — that  the  fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away.  Teach 
them  the  folly  of  ambition,  the  sin  of  strife,  and  the  nothingness  of  renown. 
Make  them  so  to  lay  to  heart  this  lesson  of  mortality  as  to  live  above  the 
world,  to  seek  Thy  favor,  to  study  Thy  law,  and  in  all  their  actions  to  aim 
at  Thy  glory,  at  the  good  of  their  own  souls,  and  of  the  souls  of  their  fellow 
men. 


EULOGY    OF    MR.    BRECKINRIDGE.  393 

"And  when  we  are  called  to  go  the  way  of  all  the  earth,  maj  we  depart 
in  the  confidence  of  a  certain  faith — in  the  comfort  of  a  reasonable,  religious, 
and  holy  hope — in  favor  with  Thee,  our  God,  and  perfect  charity  with  the 
world.  All  of  which  we  ask  in  the  name  and  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ, 
our  Savior.  Amen." 

The  Journal  of  yesterday  having  been  read, 

A  message  was  received  from  the  Senate  by  the  hands  of 
Ashbury  Dickins,  Esq.,  its  Secretary,  announcing  the  death  of 
Henry  Clay,  late  Senator  from  Kentucky,  and  the  adoption  of 
the  foregoing  resolutions  of  that  body. 

Mr.  BRECKINRIDGE*  rose  and  said  : — 

"  Mr.  Speaker :  I  rise  to  perform  the  melancholy  duty  of  announcing  to  this 
body  the  death  of  Henry  Clay,  late  a  Senator  in  Congress  from  the  Com 
monwealth  of  Kentucky. 

"Mr.  Clay  expired  at  his  lodgings  in  this  city  yesterday  morning,  at  seven 
teen  minutes  past  eleven  o'clock,  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age.  His 
noble  intellect  was  unclouded  to  the  last.  After  protracted  sufferings,  he 
passed  away  without  pain  ;  and  so  gently  did  the  spirit  leave  his  frame, 
that  the  moment  of  departure  was  not  observed  by  the  friends  who  watched 
at  his  bedside.  His  last  houi-s  were  cheered  by  the  presence  of  an  affec 
tionate  son,  and  he  died  surrounded  by  friends  who,  during  his  long  illness, 
had  done  all  that  affection  could  suggest  to  soothe  his  sufferings. 

"Although  this  sad  event  has  been  expected  for  many  weeks,  the  shock 
it  produced,  and  the  innumerable  tributes  of  respect  to  his  memory 
exhibited  on  every  side,  and  in  every  form,  prove  the  depth  of  the  public 
sorrow  and  the  greatness  of  the  public  loss. 

"Imperishably  associated  as  his  name  has  been  for  fifty  years  with  every 
great  event  affecting  the  fortunes  of  our  country,  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that 
he  is  indeed  gone  forever.  It  is  difficult  to  feel  that  we  shall  see  no  more  his 
noble  form  within  these  walls — that  we  shall  hear  no  more  his  patriot  tones, 
now  rousing  his  countrymen  to  vindicate  their  rights  against  a  foreign  foe, 
now  imploring  them  to  preserve  concord  among  themselves.  We  shall  see 
him  no  more.  The  memory  and  the  fruits  of  his  services  alone  remain  to 
us.  Amidst  the  general  gloom,  the  Capitol  itself  looks  desolate,  as  if  the 
genius  of  the  place  had  departed.  Already  the  intelligence  has  reached 
almost  every  quarter  of  the  Republic,  and  a  great  people  mourn  with  us, 
to-day,  the  death  of  their  most  illustrious  citizen.  Sympathizing,  as  we  do, 
deeply,  with  his  family  and  friends,  yet  private  affliction  is  absorbed  in  the 
general  sorrow.  The  spectacle  of  a  whole  community  lamenting  the  loss  of 
a  great  man,  is  far  more  touching  than  any  manifestation  of  private  grief. 
In  speaking  of  a  loss  which  is  national,  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe  the 
universal  burst  of  grief  with  which  Kentucky  will  receive  these  tidings. 
The  attempt  would  be  vain  to  depict  the  gloom  that  will  cover  her  people, 
when  they  know  that  the  pillar  of  fire  has  been  removed  which  has  guided 
their  footsteps  for  the  life  of  a  generation. 

"It  is  known  to  the  country  that,  from  the  memorable  session  of  1849-'50, 
Mr.  Clay's  health  gradually  declined.  Although  several  years  of  his  Sena 
torial  term  remained,  he  did  not  propose  to  continue  in  the  public  service 
longer  than  the  present  session.  He  came  to  Washington  chiefly  to  defend, 


Q* 


*  J-ihn  C  Breckinridge  (Democrat),  of  Kentucky, 


394  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

if  it  should  become  necessary,  the  measures  of  Adjustment,  to  the  adoption 
of  which  he  so  largely  contributed  ;  but  the  condition  of  his  health  did  not 
allow  him,  at  any  time,  to  participate  in  the  discussions  of  the  Senate. 
During  the  winter  he  was  confined  almost  wholly  to  his  room,  with  slight 
changes  in  his  condition,  but  gradually  losing  the  remnant  of  his  strength. 
During  the  long  and  dreary  winter,  he  conversed  much  and  cheerfully  with 
his  friends,  and  expressed  a  deep  interest  in  public  affairs.  Although  he  did 
not  expect  a  restoration  to  health,  he  cherished  the  hope  that  the  mild 
season  of  spring  would  bring  to  him  strength  enough  to  return  to  Ashland, 
and  die  in  the  bosom  of  his  family.  But  alas!  spring  that  brings  life  to  all 
nature,  brought  no  life  nor  hope  to  him.  After  the  month  of  March,  his 
vital  powers  rapidly  wasted,  and  for  weeks  he  lay  patiently  awaiting  the 
stroke  of  death.  But  the  approach  of  the  destroyer  had  no  terrors  for  him. 
No  clouds  overhung  his  future.  He  met  the  end  with  composure,  and  his 
pathway  to  the  grave  was  brightened  by  the  immortal  hopes  which  spring 
from  the  Christian  faith. 

"Not  long  before  his  death,  having  just  returned  from  Kentucky,  I 
bore  to  him  a  token  of  affection  from  his  excellent  wife.  Never  can  I 
forget  his  appearance,  his  manner,  or  his  words.  After  speaking  of  his 
family,  his  friends,  and  his  country,  he  changed  the  conversation  to  his  own 
future,  and  looking  on  me  with  his  fine  eye  undimmed,  and  his  voice  full  of 
its  original  compass  and  melody,  lie  said,  'I  am  not  afraid  to  die,  sir.  I 
have  hope,  faith,  and  some  confidence.  I  do  not  think  any  man  can  be 
entirely  certain  in  regard  to  his  future  state,  but  I  have  an  abiding  trust  in 
the  merits  and  mediation  of  our  Savior.'  It  will  assuage  the  grief  of  his 
family  to  know  that  he  looked  hopefully  beyond  the  tomb,  and  a  Christian 
people  will  rejoice  to  hear  that  such  a  man  in  his  last  hours  reposed  with 
simplicity  and  confidence  on  the  promises  of  the  Gospel. 

"It  is  the  custom,  on  occasions  like  this,  to  speak  of  the  parentage  and 
childhood  of  the  deceased,  and  to  follow  him,  step  by  step,  through  life.  I 
will  not  attempt  to  relate  even  all  the  great  events  of  Mr.  Clay's  life,  because 
they  are  familiar  to  the  whole  country,  and  it  would  be  needless  to 
enumerate  a  long  list  of  public  services  which  form  a  part  of  American 
history. 

"  Beginning  life  as  a  friendless  boy,  with  few  advantages  save  those  con 
ferred  by  nature,  while  yet  a  minor  he  left  Virginia,  the  State  of  his  birth, 
and  commenced  the  practice  of  law  at  Lexington,  in  Kentucky.  At  a  bar 
remarkable  for  its  numbers  and  talent,  Mr.  Clay  soon  rose  to  the  first  rank. 
At  a  very  early  age,  lie  was  elected  from  the  county  of  Fayctte  to  the 
General  Assembly  of  Kentucky,  and  was  the  Speaker  of  that  body.  Coming 
into  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, -for  the  first  time,  in  1806,  he  entered 
upon  a  parliamentary  career,  the  most  brilliant  and  successful  in  our  annals. 
From  that  time,  he  remained  habitually  in  the  public  eye.  As  a  Senator,  as 
a  member  of  this  House,  and  its  Speaker,  as  a  representative  of  his  country 
abroad,  and  as  a  high  officer  in  the  Executive  department  of  the  Govern 
ment,  he  was  intimately  connected  for  fifty  years  with  every  great  measure 
of  American  policy.  Of  the  mere  party  measures  of  this  period,  I  do  not 
propose  to  speak.  Many  of  them  have  passed  away,  and  are  remembered 
only  as  the  occasion  for  the  great  intellectual  efforts  which  marked  their  dis 
cussion.  Concerning  others,  opinions  are  still  divided.  They  will  go  into 
history,  with  the  reasons  on  either  side  rendered  by  the  greatest  intellects  of 
the  time. 

"As  a  leader  in  a  deliberative  body,  Mr.  Clay  had  no  equal  in  America. 
tn  him,  intellect,  person,  eloquence,  and  courage,  united  to  form  a  character 


EULOGY    OF    MR.    BRECKINRIDGE.  39A 

fit  to  command.  He  fired  with  his  own  enthusiasm,  and  controlled  by  his 
amazing  will,  individuals  and  masses.  No  reverse  could  crush  his  spirit,  nor 
defeat  reduce  him  to  despair.  Equally  erect  and  dauntless  in  prosperity  and 
adversity,  when  successful,  he  moved  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes 
with  severe  resolution ;  when  defeated,  he  rallied  his  broken  bands  around 
him,  and  from  his  eagle-eye  shot  along  their  ranks  the  contagion  of  his  own 
courage.  Destined  for  a  leader,  he  everywhere  asserted  his  destiny.  In  his 
long  and  eventful  life,  he  came  in  contact  with  men  of  all  ranks  and  pro 
fessions,  but  he  never  felt  that  he  was  in  the  presence  of  a  man  superior  tj 
himself.  In  the  assemblies  of  the  people,  at  the  bar,  in  the  Senate — every 
where  within  the  circle  of  his  personal  presence,  he  assumed  and  maintained 
a  position  of  preeminence. 

"But  the  supremacy  of  Mr.  Clav  as  a  party  leader,  was  not  his  only  nor 
his  highest  title  to  renown.  That  title  is  to  be  found  in  the  purely  patriotic 
spirit  which,  on  great  occasions,  always  signalized  his  conduct.  We  have 
had  no  statesman  who,  in  periods  of  real  and  imminent  public  peril,  has  ex 
hibited  a  more  genuine  and  enlarged  patriotism  than  Henry  Clay.  "When 
ever  a  question  presented  itself  actually  threatening  the  existence  of  the 
Union,  Mr.  Clay,  rising  above  the  passions  of  the  hour,  always  exerted  his 
powers  to  solve  it  peacefully  and  honorably.  Although  more  liable  than 
most  men,  from  his  impetuous  and  ardent  nature,  to  feel  strongly  the  passions 
common  to  us  all,  it  was  his  rare  faculty  to  be  able  to  subdue  them  in  a  great 
crisis,  and  to  hold  toward  all  sections  of  the  Confederacy  the  language  of 
concord  and  brotherhood. 

"  Sir,  it  will  be  a  proud  pleasure  to  every  true  American  heart  to  remem 
ber  the  great  occasions  when  Mr.  Clay  has  displayed  a  sublime  patriotism — 
when  the  ill-temper  engendered  by  the  times,  and  the  miserable  jealousies 
of  the  day,  seemed  to  have  been  driven  from  his  bosom,  by  the  expulsive 
power  of  nobler  feelings — when  every  throb  of  his  heart  was  given  to  his 
country,  every  effort  of  his  intellect  dedicated  to  her  service.  Who  does  not 
remember  the  three  periods  when  the  American  system  of  Government  was 
exposed  to  its  severest  trials ;  and  who  does  not  know  that  when  History 
shall  relate  the  struggles  which  preceded  the  dangers  which  were  averted  by 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  the  Tariff  Compromise  of  1833,  and  the  Adjust 
ment  of  1850,  the  same  pages  will  record  the  genius,  the  eloquence,  and  the 
patriotism  of  Henry  Clay  ? 

"Nor  was  it  in  Mr.  Clay's  nature  to  lag  behind  until  measures  of  adjust 
ment  were  matured,  and  then  come  forward  to  swell  a  majority.  On  the 
contrary,  like  a  bold  and  real  statesman,  he  was  ever  among  the  first  to  meet 
the  peril,  and  hazard  his  fame  upon  the  remedy.  It  is  fresh  in  the  memory 
of  us  all  that,  when  lately  the  fury  of  sectional  discord  threatened  to  sever 
the  Confederacy,  Mr.  Clay,  though  withdrawn  from  public  life,  and  oppressed 
by  the  burden  of  years,  came  back  to  the  Senate,  the  theatre  of  his  glory, 
and  devoted  the  remnant  of  his  strength  to  the  sacred  duty  of  preserving 
the  union  of  the  States. 

"  With  characteristic  courage,  he  took  the  lead  in  proposing  a  scheme  of 
settlement.  But,  while  he  was  willing  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  pro 
posing  a  plan,  he  did  not,  with  petty  ambition,  insist  upon  its  adoption  to 
the  exclusion  of  other  modes ;  but,  taking  his  own  as  a  starting-point  for  dis 
cussion  and  practical  action,  he  nobly  labored  with  his  compatriots  to  change 
and  improve  it  in  such  form  as  "to  make  it  an  acceptable  adjustment. 
Throughout  the  long  and  arduous  struggle,  the  love  of  country  expelled  from 
his  bosom  the  spirit  of  selfishness,  and  Mr.  Clay  proved,  for  the  third  time, 
that  though  he  was  ambitious,  and  loved  glory,  he  had  no  ambition  to  mount 


396  1IFE    OF    HENR\    CLAY. 

to  fame  on  the  confusions  of  his  country.  And  this  conviction  is  lodged  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people;  the  party  measures  and  the  party  passions  of  for 
mer  times  have  not,  for  several  years,  interposed  between  Mr.  Clay  and  the 
masses  of  his  countrymen.  After  1850,  he  seemed  to  feel  that  his  mission 
was  accomplished,  and  during  the  same  period,  the  regards  and  affections 
of  the  American  people  have  been  attracted  to  him  in  a  remarkable  degree. 
For  many  months  the  warmest  feelings — the  deepest  anxieties  of  all  parties 
centered  upon  the  dying  statesman ;  the  glory  of  his  great  actions  shed  a 
mellow  lustre  on  his  declining  years,  and  to  fill  the  measure  of  his  fame,  hi? 
countrymen,  weaving  for  him  the  laurel  wreath,  with  common  hands,  did 
bind  it  about  his  venerable  brows,  and  send  him,  crowned,  to  history. 

"The  life  of  Mr.  Clay,  sir,  is  a  striking  example  of  the  abiding  fame  whicl 
surely  awaits  the  direct  and  candid  statesman.  The  entire  absence  of  equivo 
cation  or  disguise  in  all  his  acts,  was  his  master-key  to  the  popular  heart 
for  while  the  people  will  forgive  the  errors  of  a  bold  and  open  nature,  h« 
sins  past  forgiveness  who  deliberately  deceives  them.  Hence  Mr.  Clay, 
though  often  defeated  in  his  measures  of  policy,  alwavs  secured  the  respect 
of  his  opponents  without  losing  the  confidence  of  his  friends.  He  never 
paltered  in  a  double  sense.  The  country  never  was  in  doubt  as  to  his  opin 
ions  or  his  purposes.  In  all  the  contests  of  his  time,  his  position  on  great 
public  questions  was  as  clear  as  the  sun  in  the  cloudless  sky.  Sir,  standing 
by  the  grave  of  this  great  man,  and  considering  these  things,  how  contempti 
ble  does  appear  the  mere  legerdemain  of  politics!  What  a  reproach  is  his 
life  on  that  false  policy  which  would  trifle  with  a  great  and  tipright  people! 
If  I  were  to  write  his  epitaph,  I  would  inscribe  as  the  highest  eulogy,  on  the 
stone  which  shall  mark  his  resting-place,  'Here  lies  a  man  who  was  in  the 
public  service  for  fifty  years,  and  never  attempted  to  deceive  his  country 
men.' 

"  While  the  youth  of  America  should  imitate  his  noble  qualities,  they  may 
take  courage  from  his  career,  and  note  the  high  proof  it  affords  that,  under 
our  equal  institutions,  the  avenues  to  honor  are  open  to  all.  Mr.  Clay  rose 
by  the  force  of  his  own  genius,  unaided  by  power,  patronage,  or  wealth. 
At  an  age  when  our  young  men  are  usually  advanced  to  the  higher  schools 
of  learning,  provided  only  with  the  rudiments  of  an  English  education,  he 
turned  his  steps  to  the  West,  and,  amidst  the  rude  collisions  of  a  border  life, 
matured  a  character  whose  highest  exhibitions  were  destined  to  mark  eras 
in  his  country's  history.  Beginning  on  the  frontiers  of  American  civilization, 
the  orphan  boy,  supported  only  by  the  consciousness  of  his  own  powers,  and 
by  the  confidence  of  the  people,  surmounted  all  the  barriers  of  adverse  for 
tune,  and  won  a  glorious  name  in  the  annais  of  his  country.  Let  the  gener 
ous  youth,  fired  with  honorable  ambition,  remember  that  the  American 
gystem  of  government  offers  on  every  hand  bounties  to  merit.  If,  like  Clay, 
orphanage,  obscurity,  poverty,  shall  oppress  him  ;  yet  if,  like  Clay,  he  feels 
the  Promethean  spark  within,  let  him  remember  that  his  country,  like  a 
generous  mother,  extends  her  arms  to  welcome  and  to  cherish  every  one  of 
her  children  whose  genius.and  worth  may  promote  her  prosperity  or  increase 
her  renown. 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  the  signs  of  wo  around  us,  and  the  general  voice,  announce 
that  another  great  man  has  fallen.  Our  consolation  is  that  he  was  not  taken 
in  the  vigor  of  his  manhood,  but  sunk  inco  the  grave  at  the  close  of  a  long 
and  illustrious  career.  The  great  statesmen  who  have  filled  the  largest  space 
in  the  public  eye,  one  by  one,  are  passing  away.  Of  the  three  great  leaders 
of  the  Senate,  one  alone  remains,  and  he  must  follow  soon.  We  shall  wit 
ness  no  more  their  intellectual  struggles  in  the  American  forum ;  but  th« 


REMARKS    OF    MR.    EWING    OF    KY.  397 

monuments  of  their  genius  will  be  cherished  as  the  common  property  of  the 
people,  arid  their  names  will  continue  to  confer  dignity  and  renown  upon 
their  country. 

"  Not  less  illustrious  than  the  greatest  of  these  will  be  the  name  of  Clay 
— a  name  pronounced  with  pride  by  Americans  in  every  quarter  of  the 
globe;  a  name  to  be  remembered  while  history  shall  record  the  struggles 
of  modern  Greece  for  freedom,  or  the  spirit  of  liberty  burn  in  the  South 
American  bosom;  a  living  and  immortal  name — a  name  that  would  descend 
to  posterity  without  the  aid  of  letters,  borne  by  tradition  from  generation 
to  generation.  Every  memorial  of  such  a  man  will  possess  a  meaning  and 
a  value  to  his  countrymen.  His  tomb  will  be  a  hallowed  spot.  Great 
memories  will  cluster  there,  and  his  countrymen,  as  they  visit  it,  may  well 
exclaim — 

'  Such  graves  as  his  are  pilgrim  shrines, 

Shrines  to  no  creed  confined  ; 
The  Delphian  vales,  the  Palestines, 
The  Meccas  of  the  mind.' 

"Mr.  Speaker,  I  offer  the  following  resolutions: — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  has  received,  with  the 
deepest  sensibility,  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Henry  Clay. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  officers  and  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  will  wear  the 
usual  badge  of  mourning  for  thirty  days,  as  a  testimony  of  the  profound  respect  this  House 
entertains  for  the  memory  of  the  deceased.  t 

"  Resolved,  That  the  officers  and  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  a  body, 
will  attend  the  funeral  of  Henry  Clay,  on  the  day  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  of  this  House,  in  relation  to  the  death  of  Henry  Clay,  be 
communicated  to  the  family  of  the  deceased  by  the  Clerk. 

"  Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the  deceased,  this  House 
do  now  adjourn." 

MR.  EWING*  rose  and  said:  "A  noble  heart  has  ceased  to  beat  for  ever. 
A  long  life  of  brilliant  and  self- devoted  public  service  is  finished  at  last,  and 
we  now  stand  at  its  conclusion,  looking  back  through  the  changeful  history 
of  that  life  to  its  beginning,  contemporaneous  with  the  very  birth  of  the 
.Republic,  and  its  varied  events  mingled  in  our  hearts  and  our  memories — 
with  the  triumph  and  calamities,  the  weakness  and  the  power,  the  adversity 
and  prosperity  of  a  country  we  love  so  much.  As  we  contemplate  this  sad 
event  in  this  place,  the  shadows  of  the  past  gather  over  us;  the  memories 
of  events  long  gone  crowd  upon  us,  and  the  shades  of  departed  patriots  seem 
to  hover  about  us,  waiting  to  receive  into  their  midst  the  spirit  of  one  who 
was  worthy  to  be  a  colaborer,  with  them  in  a  common  cause,  and  to  share  in 
the  rewards  of  their  virtues.  Henceforth  he  must  be  to  us  as  one  of  them. 

"They  say  he  was  ambitious.  If  so,  it  was  a  grievous  fault,  and  grievously 
has  he  answered  it  He  has  found  in  it  naught  but  disappointment.  It  has 
but  served  to  aggravate  the  mortification  of  his  defeats,  and  furnish  an  ad 
ditional  lustre  to  the  triumph  of  his  foes.  Those  who  come  after  us  may, 
ay,  they  will,  inquire  why  his  statue  stands  not  among  the  statues  of  those 
whom  men  thought  ablest  and  worthiest  to  govern. 

"But  his  ambition  was  a  high  and  holy  feeling,  unselfish,  magnanimous. 
Its  aspirations  were  for  his  country's  good,  and  its  triumph  was  his  country's 
prosperity.  Whether  in  honor  or  reproach,  in  triumph  or  defeat,  that  heart 
of  liis  never  throbbed  with  one  pulsation  save  for  her  honor  and  her  welfare. 
Turn  to  him  in  that  last,  best  deed,  and  crowning  glory  of  a  life  so  full  of 
p'iblic  service  and  of  honor,  when  his  career  of  personal  ambition  wa« 

*  Presley  Ewing  (Whig),  of  Kentucky, 


398  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

finished  for  ever.  Rejected  again  and  again  by  his  countrymen ;  ^ust  aban 
doned  by  a  party  which  would  scarce  have  had  an  existence  without  his 
genius,  his  courage,  and  his  labors,  that  great  heart,  ever  firm  and  defiant  to 
the  assaults  of  his  enemies,  but  defenceless  against  the  ingratitude  of  friends, 
doubtless  wrung  with  the  bitterest  mortification  of  his  life ;  then  it  was,  and 
under  such  circumstances  as  these,  the  gathering  storm  rose  upon  his  country. 
All  eyes  turned  to  him ;  all  voices  called  for  those  services  which,  in  the 
hour  of  prosperity  and  security,  they  had  so  carelessly  rejected.  With  no 
misanthropic  chagrin,  with  no  morose,  selfish  resentment,  he  forgot  all 
but  his  country  and  that  country  endangered.  He  returns  to  the  scene 
of  his  labors  and  his  fame,  which  he  had  thought  to  have  left  for  ever 
A  scene — that  American  Senate-Chamber,  clothed  in  no  gorgeous  dra 
pery,  shrouded  in  no  superstitious  awe  or  ancient  reverence  for  hereditary 
power,  but  to  a  reflecting  American  mind  more  full  of  interest,  of  dig 
nity,  and  of  grandeur,  than  any  spot  on  this  broad  earth,  not  made  holy 
by  religion's  consecrating  seal.  See  him  as  he  enters  there,  tremblingly, 
but  hopefully,  upon  the  last,  most  momentous,  perhaps  most  doubtful  conflict 
of  his  life.  Sir,  many  a  gay  tournament  has  been  more  dazzling  to  the  eye 
of  fancy,  more  gorgeous  and  imposing  in  the  display  of  jewelry  and  cloth  of 
gold,  in  the  sound  of  heralds'  trumpets,  in  the  grand  array  of  princely  beauty 
and  of  royal  pride.  Many  a  battle-field  has  trembled  beneath  a  more  osten 
tatious  parade  of  human  power,  and  its  conquerors  have  been  crowned  with 
laurels,  honored  with  triumphs,  and  apotheosized  amid  the  demigods  of  His 
tory  ;  but  to  the  thoughtful,  hopeful,  philanthropic  student  of  the  annals  of 
his  race,  never  was  there  a  conflict  in  which  such  dangers  were  threatened, 
such  hopes  imperiled,  or  the  hero  of  which  deserved  a  warmer  gratitude,  a 
nobler  triumph,  or  a  prouder  monument. 

"Sir,  from  that  long,  anxious,  and  exhausting  conflict  he  never  rose 
again.  In  that  last  battle  for  his  country's  honor,  and  his  country's  safe 
ty,  he  received  the  mortal  wound  which  laid  him  low ;  and  we  now  mourn 
the  death  of  a  martyred  patriot. 

"  But  never,  in  all  the  grand  drama  which  the  story  of  his  life  arrays, 
never  has  he  presented  a  sublimer  or  a  more  touching  spectacle  than  in 
those  last  days  of  his  decline  and  death.  Broken  with  the  storms  of  state, 
wounded  and  scathed  in  many  a  fiery  conflict,  that  aged,  worn,  and  de 
cayed  body,  in  such  mournful  contrast  with  the  never-dying  strength  of  hia 
giant  spirit,  he  seemed  a  proud  and  sacred,  though  a  crumbling  monument 
of  past  glory.  Standing  among  us  like  some  ancient  colossal  ruin  amid 
the  degenerate  and  more  diminutive  structures  of  modern  times,  its  vast 
proportions  magnified  by  the  contrast,  he  reminded  us  of  those  days  when 
there  were  giants  in  the  land,  and  we  remembered  that  even  then  there 
was  none  whose  prowess  could  withstand  his  arm.  To  watch  him  in  that 
slow  decline,  yielding  with  dignity,  and  as  it  were  inch  by  inch,  to  that  las* 
enemy,  as  a  hero  yields  to  a  conquering  foe,  the  glorious  light  of  his  intel 
*ect  blazing  still  in  all  its  wonted  brilliancy,  and  setting  at  defiance  thv 
clouds  that  vainly  attempted  to  obscure  it,  he  was  more  full  of  interest  tha» 
in  the  day  of  his  glory  and  his  power.  There  are  some  men  whose  bright 
est  intellectual  emanations  rise  so  little  superior  to  the  instincts  of  the  ani 
mal,  that  we  are  led  fearfully  to  doubt  that  cherished  truth  of  the  soul's  im 
mortality,  which,  even  in  despair,  men  press  to  their  doubting  hearts.  Bui 
it  is  in  the  death  of  such  a  man  as  he  that  we  are  reassured  by  the  contem 
plation  of  a  kindred  though  superior  spirit,  of  a  soul  which,  immortal  like 
his  fame,  knows  no  old  age,  no  decay,  no  death. 

"The  wondrous  light  of  his  unmatched  intellect  may  have  dazzled  « 


REMARKS    OF    MR.    CASKIE    OF    VA.  399 

world:  the  eloquence  of  that  inspired  tongue  may  have  enchanted  millions, 
but  there  are  few  who  have  sounded  the  depths  of  that  noble  heart.  To 
B«tt  him  in  sickness  and  in  health,  in  joy  and  in  sadness,  in  the  silent  watches 
of  the  night  and  in  the  busy  daytime — tins  it  was  to  know  and  love  him. 
To  see  the  impetuous  torrent  of  that  resistless  will ;  the  hurricane  of  those 
passions,  hushed  in  peace,  breathe  calm  and  gently  as  a  summer  zephyr ;  to 
feel  the  gentle  pressure  of  that  hand  in  the  grasp  of  friendship  which  in  the 
rage  of  fiery  conflict  could  hurl  scorn  and  defiance  at  his  foe;  to  see  that 
eagle  eye,  which  oft  would  burn  with  patriotic  ardor,  or  flash  with  the 
lightning  of  his  anger,  beam  with  the  kindliest  expressions  of  tenderness 
and  affection — then  it  was,  and  then  alone,  we  could  learn  to  know  and 
feel  that  that  heart  was  warmed  by  the  same  sacred  fire  from  above  which 
enkindled  the  light  of  his  resplendent  intellect.  In  the  death  of  such  a 
man  even  patriotism  itself  might  pause,  and  for  a  moment  stand  aloof  while 
friendship  shed  a  tear  of  sorrow  upon  his  bier. 

'  His  life  was  gentle  ;  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him,  that  Nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world,  This  was  a  man  !' 

"But  who  can  estimate  his  country's  loss?  what  tongue  portray  the 
desolation  which,  in  this  house,  throughout  this  broad  land,  hangs  a  gloomy 
pall  over  his  grief-stricken  countrymen?  How  poorly  can  words  like  mine 
translate  the  eloquence  of  a  whole  people's  grief  for  a  patriot's  death  !  For 
a  nation's  loss  let  a  nation  mourn.  For  that  stupendous  calamity  to  our 
country  and  mankind,  be  the  heavens  hung  with  black;  let  the  wailing 
elements  chant  his  dirge,  and  the  universal  heart  of  man  throb  with  one 
common  pang  of  grief  and  anguish." 

Mr.  CASKIE.*  "Mr.  Speaker:  I  must  try  to  lay  a  single  laurel  leaf  in  that 
open  coffin  which  is  already  garlanded  by  the  eloquent  tributes  to  the  illustri 
ous  departed,  which  have  been  heard  in  this  now  solemn  Hall — for  I  come, 
sir,  from.the  district  of  his  birth.  I  represent  on  this  floor  that  old  Han 
over  so  proud  of  her  Henrys — her  Patrick  Henry,  and  her  Henry  Clay.  I 
speak  for  a  people  among  whom  he  has  always  had  as  earnest  and  devoted 
friends  as  were  ever  the  grace  and  glory  of  a  patriot  and  statesman. 

"  I  shall  attempt  no  sketch  of  his  life.  That  you  have  had  from  other  and 
abler  hands  than  mine.  Till  yesterday  that  life  was,  of  his  own  free  gift, 
the  property  of  his  country  ;  to-day  it  belongs  to  her  history.  It  is  known 
to  all,  and  will  not  be  forgotten.  Constant,  stern  opponent  of  his  political 
school  as  has  been  my  State,  I  say  for  her,  that  nowhere  in  this  broad  land 
are  his  great  qualities  more  admired,  or  his  death  more  mourned,  than  in 
"Virginia.  Well  may  this  be  so  ;  for  she  is  his  mother,  and  he  was  her  son. 

"Mr.  Speaker,  when  I  remember  the  party  strifes  in  which  he  was  so 
much  mingled,  and  through  which  we  all  more  or  less  have  passed,  and 
then  survey  this  scene,  and  think  how  far,  as  the  lightning  has  borne  the 
news  that  he  is  gone,  half-masted  flags  are  drooping  and  church-bells  are 
tolling,  and  men  are  sorrowing — I  can  but  feel  that  it  is  good  for  man  to 
die.  For  when  death  enters,  oh  !  how  the  unkindnesses,  and  jealousies,  and 
rivalries  of  life  do  vanish,  and  how,  like  incense  from  an  altar,  do  peace 
and  friendship,  and  all  the  sweet  charities  of  our  nature,  rise  around  the 
corpse  which  was  once  a  man. 

"  And  of  a  truth,  Mr.  Speaker,  never  was  more  of  veritable,  noble  man 
hood  cased  in  mortal  mould  than  was  found  in  him  to  whose  memory  this 

*  John  S.  Caskie  (Democrat)  of  Richmond  District,  Virginia. 


400  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

brief  and  humble,  but  true  and  heartfelt,  tribute  is  paid.  But  his  eloquent 
voice  is  hushed,  his  high  heart  is  stilled.  'Like  a  shock  of  corn  fully  ripe, 
lie  has  been  gathered  to  his  fathers.'  With  more  than  threescore  yeara 
and  ten  upon  him,  and  honors  clustered  thick  about  him,  in  the  full  posses 
sion  of  unclouded  intellect,  and  all  the  consolations  of  Christianity,  lie  has 
met  the  fate  which  is  evitable  by  none.  Lamented  by  all  his  countrymen, 
his  name  is  bright  on  Fame's  immortal  roll.  He  has  finished  his  course,  and 
he  has  his  crown.  What  more  fruit  can  life  bear?  What  can  it  give  that 
Henry  Clay  lias  not  gained  ? 

"  Then,  Mr.  Speaker,  around  his  tomb  should  be  heard  not  only  the  dirge 
tiat  wails  his  loss,  but  the  jubilant  anthem  which  sounds  that  on  the  world's 
great  battle-field  another  victory  has  been  won,  another  incontestable  great 
ness  achieved." 

Mr.  CHANDLER*  said  :  "  Mr.  Speaker,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  solemn  invo 
cation  of  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Kentucky  [Mr.  Ewing]  was  receiv 
ing  an  early  answer,  and  that  the  heavens  are  hung  in  black,  and  the  wail 
ing  elements  are  singing  the  funeral  dirge  of  Henry  Clay.  Amid  this 
elemental  gloom  and  the  distress  which  pervades  the  nation  at  the  death  of 
Henry  Clay,  private  grief  should  not  obtrude  itself  upon'notice,  nor  personal 
anguish  seek  for  utterance.  Silence  is  the  best  exponent  of  individual 
sorrow,  and  the  heart  that  knoweth  its  cwn  bitterness  shrinks  from  an 
exposition  of  its  affliction. 

"  Could  I  have  consulted  my  own  feelings  on  the  event  which  occupies 
the  attention  of  the  House  at  the  present  moment,  I  should  even  have  for 
borne  attendance  here,  and,  in  the  solitude  and  silence  of  my  chamber,  have 
mused  upon  the  terrible  lesson  which  has  been  administered  to  the  people 
and  the  nation.  But  I  represent  a  constituency  who  justly  pride  themselves 
upon  the  unwavering  attachment  they  have  ever  felt  and  manifested  to 
Henry  Clay — a  constant,  pervading,  hereditary  love;  the  son  has  taken  up 
the  father's  affection,  and,  amid  all  the  professions  of  political  attachments 
to  others,  whom  the  accidents  of  party  have  made  prominent,  and  the  suc 
cess  of  party  has  made  powerful,  true  to  his  own  instincts,  and  true  to  the 
sanctified  legacy  of  his  father,  he  has  placed  the  name  of  Henry  Clay  for 
ward  and  preeminent  as  the  exponent  of  what  is  greatest  in  statesmanship, 
and  purest  in  patriotism.  And  even,  sir,  when  partv  fealty  caused  other 
attachments  to  be  avowed  for  party  uses,  the  preference  was  limited  to  the 
occupancy  of  office,  and  superiority  admitted  for  Clay  in  all  that  is  reckoned 
above  party  estimation. 

"Nor  ought  I  to  forbear  to  add  that,  as  the  senior  member  of  the  delega 
tion  which  represents  my  Commonwealth,  I  am  requested  to  utter  the 
sentiments  of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  at  large,  who  yield  to  no  portion 
of  this  great  Union  in  their  appreciation  of  the  talents,  their  reverence  for 
the  lofty  patriotism,  their  admiration  of  the  statesmanship,  and  hereafter 
their  love  of  the  memory  of  Henry  Clay. 

"I  can  not,  therefore,  be  silent  on  this  occasion,  without  injustice  to  the 
affections  of  my  constituency,  even  though  I  painfully  feel  how  inadequate 
to  the  reverence  and  love  my  people  have  toward  that  statesman  must  be 
all  that  I  have  to  utter  on  this  mournful  occasion. 

"  I  know  not,  Mr.  Chairman,  where  now  the  nation  is  to  find  the  men  she 
needs  in  peril — either  other  calls  than  those  of  politics  are  holding  in 
abeyance  the  talents  which  the  nation  may  need,  or  else  a  generation  is  to 
pass  undistinguished  by  the  greatness  of  our  statesmen.  Of  the  noble  minds 

*  Joseph  R.  Chandler  (Whig)  of  Philadelphia  city,  Pa. 


REMARKS  OF  MR.  CHANDLER  OF  PA.  401 

that  have  swayed  the  Senate,  one  yet  survives  in  the  maturity  of  powerful 
intellect,  carefully  disciplined  and  nobly  exercised.  May  He  who  has  thus 
far  blessed  our  nation,  spare  to  her  and  the  world,  that  of  which  the  world 
must  always  envy  our  country  the  possession.  But  my  business  is  with  the 
dead. 

"The  biography  of  Henry  Clay,  from  his  childhood  upward,  is  too 
familiar  to  every  American,  for  me  to  trespass  on  the  time  of  this  House  by 
a  reference  directly  thereto ;  and  the  honorable  gentlemen  who  have 
preceded  me  have,  with  affectionate  hand  and  appropriate  delicacy,  swept 
away  the  dust  which  nearly  fourscore  years  have  scattered  over  a  part  of 
the  record,  and  have  made  our  pride  greater  in  his  life,  and  our  grief  more 
poignant  at  his  death,  by  showing  some  of  those  passages  wfaich  attract 
respect  to  our  republican  institutions,  of  which  Mr.  Clay's  whole  life  was  the 
able  support  and  most  successful  illustration. 

"It  would,  then,  be  a  work  of  supererogation  for  me  to  renew  that  effort, 
though  inquiry  into  the  life  and  conduct  of  Henry  Clay  would  present  new 
themes  for  private  eulogy,  new  grounds  for  public  gratitude. 

"How  rare  is  it,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  the  great  man  living,  can,  with  con 
fidence,  rely  on  extensive  personal  friendship,  or,  dying,  think  to  awaken  a, 
sentiment  of  regret  beyond  that  which  includes  the  public  loss  or  the  disap 
pointment  of  individual  hopes  !  Yet,  sir,  the  message  which  yesterday  went 
forth  from  this  city,  that  Henry  Clay  was  dead,  brought  sorrow,  personal, 
private,  special  sorrow,  to  the  hearts  of  thousands,  each  of  whom  felt  that 
from  his  own  love  for,  his  long  attachment  to,  his  disinterested  hopes  in, 
Henry  Clay,  he  had  a  particular  sorrow  to  cherish  and  express,  which 
weighed  upon  his  heart,  separate  from  the  sense  of  national  loss. 

"No  man,  Mr.  Speaker,  in  our  nation,  had  the  art  so  to  identify  himself 
with  public  measures  of  the  most  momentous  character,  and  to  maintain,  at 
the  same  time,  almost  universal  affection,  like  that  great  statesman.  His/  *\ 
business,  from  his  boyhood,  was  with  national  concerns,  and  he  dealt  with/  \ 
them  as  with  familiar  things.  And  yet  his  sympathies  were  with  individual 
interests,  enterprises,  affections,  joys,  and  sorrows  ;  and  while  every  patriot 
bowed  in  humble  deference  to  his  lofty  attainments  and  heartfelt  gratitude 
for  his  national  services,  almost  every  man  in  this  vast  Republic  knew  that 
the  great  statesman  was,  in  feeling  and  experience,  identified  with  his  own 
position.  Hence,  the  universal  love  of  the  people;  hence,  their  enthusiasm 
in  all  times,  for  his  fame.  Hence,  sir,  their  present  grief. 

"Many  other  public  men  of  our  country  have  distinguished  themselves, 
and  brought  honor  to  the  nation,  by  superiority  in  some  peculiar  branch  of 
the  public  service;  but  it  seems  to  have  been  the  gift  of  Mr.  Clay  to  have 
acquired  peculiar  eminence  in  every  path  of  duty  he  was  called  to  tread. 
In  the  earnestness  of  debate,  which  great  public  interests  and  distinguished 
opposing  talents  excited  in  this  House,  he  had  no  superior  in  energy,  force, 
or  effect.  Yet  as  the  presiding  officer,  by  blandness  of  language,  and 
firmness  of  purpose,  he  soothed  and  made  orderly;  and  thus,  by  official 
dignity,  he  commanded  the  respect  which  energy  had  secured  to  him  on  the 
floor. 

"Wherever  official  or  social  duties  demanded  an  exercise  of  his  power,  there 
was  a  preeminence  which  seemed  prescriptively  his  own.  In  the  lofty  debate 
of  the  Senate  and  the  stirring  harangues  to  popular  assemblages,  he  was  the 
orator  01  the  nation,  and  of  the  people;  and  the  sincerity  of  purpose  and 
the  unity  of  design  evinced  in  all  he  said  or  did,  fixed  in  the  public  mind  a 
confidence  strong  and  expansive  as  the  affections  he  had  won. 

"  Year  after  year,  sir,  has  Henry  Clay  been  achieving  the  work  of  th« 

26 


403  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

mission  with  which  he  was  ir-trusted ;  and  it  was  only  when  the  warmest 
wishes  of  his  warmest  friends  were  disappointed  that  he  entered  on  the 
fruition  of  a  patriot's  highest  hopes,  and  stood  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  that 
admiration  and  confidence  which  nothing  but  the  antagonism  of  party 
relations  could  have  divided. 

"How  rich  that  enjoyment  must  have  been,  it  is  only  for  us  to  imagine. 
How  eminently  deserved  it  was,  we  and  the  world  can  attest. 

"The  love  and  the  devotion  of  his  political  friends  were  cheering  and 
grateful  to  his  heart,  and  were  acknowledged  in  all  his  life — were  recognized 
even  to  his  death. 

"The  contest  in  the  Senate-Chamber  or  the  forum  was  rewarded  with 
success  achieved,  and  the  great  victor  could  enjoy  the  ovation  which  partial 
friendship  or  the  gratitude  of  the  benefited  prepared.  But  the  triumph  of 
his  life  was  no  party  achievement.  It  was  not  in  the  applause  which 
admiring  friends  and  defeated  antagonists  offered  to  his  measureless  success 
that  he  found  the  reward  of  his  labors  and  comprehended  the  extent  of  his 
mission. 

"It  was  only  when  friends  and  antagonists  pause"1} in  their  contests, 
appalled  at  the  public  difficulties  and  national  dangers  which  had  been 
accumulating,  unseen  and  unregarded ;  it  was  only  when  the  nation  itself 
felt  the  danger,  and  acknowledged  the  inefficacy  of  party  action  as  a  remedy, 
that  Henry  Clay  calculated  the  full  extent  of  his  powers,  and  enjoyed  the  . 
reward  of  their  saving  exercise.  Then,  sir,  you  saw,  and  I  saw,  party  desig 
nations  dropped,  and  party  allegiance  disavowed,  and  anxious  patriots,  of 
all  localities  and  names,  turn  toward  the  country's  benefactor  as  the  man 
for  the  terrible  exigencies  of  the  hour;  and  the  sick  chamber  of  Henry  Clay 
became  the  Delphos,  whence  were  given  out  the  oracles  that  presented  the 
means  and  the  measures  of  our  Union's  safety.  There,  sir,  and  not  in  the 
high  places  of  the  country,  were  the  labors  and  sacrifices  of  half  a  century 
to  be  rewarded  and  closed.  With  his  right  yet  in  that  Senate  which  he  had 
entered  the  youngest^  and  lingered  till  the  eldest,  member,  he  felt  that  his 
work  was  done,  and  the  object  of  his  life  accomplished.  Every  cloud  that 
had  dimmed  the  noonday  lustre  had  been  dissipated  ;  and  the  retiring  orb, 
which  sunk  from  the  sight  of  the  nation  in  fullness  and  in  beauty,  will  yet 
pour  up  the  horizon  a  posthumous  glory  that  shall  tell  of  the  splendor  and 
greatness  of  the  luminary  that  has  passed  away." 

Mr.  BAYLY.*  "Mr.  Speaker:  Although  I  have  been  all  my  life  a  party 
opponent  of  Mr.  Clay,  yet  from  my  boyhood  I  have  been  upon  terms  of  per 
sonal  friendship  with  him.  More  than  twenty  years  ago,  I  was  introduced 
to  him  by  my  father,  who  was  his  personal  friend.  From  that  time  to  this, 
there  has  existed  between  us  as  great  personal  intimacy  as  the  disparity  in 
our  years  and  our  political  difference  would  justify.  After  I  became  a 
member  of  this  House,  and  upon  his  return  to  the  Senate,  subsequent  to  his 
resignation  in  1842,  the  warm  regard  upon  his  part  for  the  daughter  of  a 
devoted  friend  of  forty  years'  standing,  made  him  a  constant  visitor  at  my 
house,  and  frequently  a  guest  at  my  table.  These  circumstances  make  it 
proper  that,  upon  this  occasion,  I  should  pay  this  last  tribute  to  his  memory. 
I  not  only  knew  him  well  as  a  statesman,  but  I  knew  him  better  in  the 
most  unreserved  social  intercourse.  The  most  happy  circumstance,  as  I 
esteem  it,  of  my  political  life  has  been,  that  I  have  thus  known  each  of  ou* 
great  Congressional  triumvirate. 

*  Gen.  Thomas  H.  Bayly  (Democrat)  of  Virginia. 


REMARKS    OF    MR.    VENABLE.  403 

"  I,  sir,  never  knew  a  man  of  higher  qualities  than  Mr.  Clay.  Hig  very 
faults  originated  in  high  qualities.  With  gi  -;  or  self-possession,  with  great 
er  self-reliance,  than  any  man  I  ever  knew,  he  possessed  moral  and  physical 
courage  to  as  high  a  degree  as  any  man  who  ever  lived.  Confident  in  his 
own  judgment,  never  doubting  as  to  his  own  course,  fearing  no  obstacle 
that  might  lie  in  his  way,  it  was  almost  impossible  that  he  should  not  have 
been  imperious  in  his  character.  Never  doubting  himself  as  to  what  he 
thought  duty  and  patriotism  required  at  his  hands,  it  was  natural  that  he 
should  sometimes  have  been  impatient  with  those  more  doubting  and  timid 
than  himself.  His  were  qualities  to  have  made  a  great  general,  as  they 
were  qualities  that  did  make  him  a  great  statesman,  and  these  qualities 
were  so  obvious  that  during  the  darkest  period  of  our  late  war  with  Great 
Britain,  Mr.  Madison  had  determined,  at  one  time,  to  make  him  General-in- 
Chief  of  the  American  army. 

"  Sir,  it  is  but  a  short  time  since  the  American  Congress  buried  the  first  one 
that  went  to  the  grave  of  that  great  triumvirate.  We  are  now  called  upon 
to  bury  another.  The  third,  thank  God!  still  lives,  and  long  may  he  live 
to  enlighten  his  countrymen  by  his  wisdom,  and  set  them  the  example  of 
exalted  patriotism.  Sir,  in  the  lives  and  characters  of  these  great  men, 
there  is  much  resembling  those  of  the  great  triumvirate  of  the  British  Par 
liament.  It  differs  principally  in  this :  Burke  preceded  Fox  and  Pitt  to  the 
tomb.  Webster  survives  Clay  and  Calhoun.  When  Fox  and  Pitt  died, 
there  were  no  others  to  fill  their  place.  Webster  still  lives,  now  that  Cal 
houn  and  Clay  are  dead,  the  unrivaled  statesman  of  his  country.  Like 
Fox  and  Pitt,  Clay  and  Calhoun  lived  in  troubled  times.  Like  Fox  and 
Pitt  they  were  each  of  them  the  leader  of  rival  parties.  Like  Fox  and  Pitt 
they  were  idolized  by  their  respective  friends.  Like  Fox  and  Pitt,  they 
died  about  the  same  time,  and  in  the  public  service ;  and  as  has  been  said 
of  Fox  and  Pitt,  Clay  and  Calhoun  died  with  '  their  harness  upon  them 
Like  Fox  and  Pitt— 

'  With  more  than  mortal  powers  endowed, 
How  high  they  soared  above  the  crowd ; 
Theirs  was  no  common  party  race, 
Jostling  by  dark  intrigue  for  place — 
Like  fabled  gods,  their  mighty  war 
Shook  realms  and  nations  in  its  jar. 
Beneath  each  banner,  proud  to  stand, 
Looked  up  the  noblest  of  the  land. 

1  Here  let  their  discord  with  them  die. 
Speak  not  for  those  a  separate  doom, 
Whom  fate  made  brothers  in  the  tomb  ; 
But  search  the  land  of  living  men, 
Where  wilt  thou  find  their  like  again  ?' 

Mr.  VENABLE.*  "Mr.  Speaker:  I  trust  that  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  add 
ing  a  few  words  upon  this  sad  occasion.  The  life  of  the  illustrious  states 
man  which  has  just  terminated  is  so  interwoven  with  our  history,  ani  the 
lustre  of  his  great  name  so  profusely  shed  over  its  pages,  that  simple  admi 
ration  of  his  high  qualities  migh£  well  be  my  excuse.  But  it  is  a  sacred 
privilege  to  dn  w  near — to  contemplate  the  end  of  the  great  and  good.  It 
is  profitable  as  well  as  purifying  to  look  upon  and  realize  the  office  of  death 
in  removing  a'l  that  can  excite  jealousy  or  produce  distrust,  and  to  gaze 
upon  the  virt1  as  which  like  jewels  have  survived  his  powers  of  destruction. 
The  %ht  frb  ,h  radiates  from  the  life  of  a  great  and  patriotic  statesman  ia 

hair  W.  Venable  (State  Rights  Democrat),  of  North  Carolina. 


404  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

often  dimmed  by  the  mists  which  party  conflicts  throw  around  it  But  the 
blast  which  strikes  him  down  purifies  the  atmosphere  which  surrounded 
him  in  life,  and  it  shines  forth  in  bright  examples  and  well-earned  renown. 
It  is  then  that  we  witness  the  sincere  acknowledgment  of  gratitude  by  a 
people  who,  having  enjoyed  the  benefits  arising  from  the  services  of  an  em 
inent  statesman,  embalm  his  name  in  their  memory  and  hearts.  We  should 
cherish  such  recollections  as  well  from  patriotism  as  self-respect.  Ours,  sir, 
is  now  the  duty,  in  the  midst  of  sadness,  in  this  high  place,  in  the  face  of 
our  Republic,  and  before  the  world,  to  pay  this  tribute  by  acknowledging 
the  merits  of  our  colleague  whose  name  has  ornamented  the  Journals  of 
Congress  for  near  half  a  century.  Few,  very  few,  have  ever  combined  the 
high  intellectual  powers  and  distinguished  gifts  of  this  illustrious  Senator. 
Cast  in  the  finest  mould  by  nature,  lie  more  than  fulfilled  the  anticipations 
which  were  indulged  by  those  who  looked  to  a  distinguished  career  as  the 
certain  result  of  that  zealous  pursuit  of  fame  and  usefulness  upon  which  he 
entered  in  early  life.  Of  the  incidents  of  that  life  it  is  unnecessary  for  me 
to  speak — they  are  as  familiar  as  household  words,  and  must  be  equally 
familiar  to  those  who  come  after  us.  But  it  is  useful  to  refresh  memory  by 
recurrence  to  some  of  the  events  which  marked  his  career.  We  know,  sir, 
that  there  is  much  that  is  in  common  in  the  histories  of  distinguished  men. 
The  elements  which  constitute  greatness  are  the  same  in  all  times;  hence 
those  who  have  been  the  admiration  of  their  generations  present  in  their 
lives  much  which,  although  really  great,  ceases  to  be  remarkable,  because 
illustrated  by  such  numerous  examples — 

'  But  there  are  deeds  which  should  not  pass  away, 
And  names  that  must  not  wither.' 

"  Of  such  deeds  the  life  of  Henry  Clay  affords  many  and  bright  examples. 
His  own  name,  and  those  with  whom  he  associated,  shall  live  with  a  fresh 
ness  which  time  can  not  impair,  and  shine  with  a  brightness  which  passing 
years  can  not  dim.  His  advent  into  public  life  was  as  remarkable  for  the 
circumstances  as  it  was  brilliant  in  its  effect.  It  was  at  a  time  in  which 
genius  and  learning,  statesmanship  and  eloquence,  made  the  American  Con 
gress  the  most  august  body  in  the  world.  He  was  the  cotemporary  of  a 
race  of  statesmen — some  of  whom  then  administering  the  Government,  and 
others  retiring  and  retired  from  office — presented  an  array  of  ability  unsur 
passed  in  our  history.  The  elder  Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Clinton,  Gal- 
latin,  and  Monroe,  stood  before  the  Republic  in  the  maturity  of  their  fame 
while  Calhoun,  John  Quincy  Adams,  Lowndes,  Crawford,  Gaston,  Randolph, 
and  Cheves,  with  a  host  of  others,  rose  a  bright  galaxy  upon  our  horizon. 
He  who  won  his  spurs  in  such  a  field  earned  his  knighthood.  Distinction 
amid  such  competition  was  true  renown — 

'  The  fame  which  a  man  wins  for  himself  is  best — 
That  he  may  call  his  own.' 

"  It  was  such  a  fame  that  he  made  for  himself  in  that  most  eventful  era 
in  our  history.  To  me,  sir,  the  recollection  of  that  day,  and  of  the  events 
which  distinguish  it,  is  filled  with  an  overpowering  interest.  I  never  can 
forget  my  enthusiastic  admiration  of  the  boldness,  the  eloquence,  and  the 
patriotism  of  Henry  Clay  during  the  war  of  1812.  In  the  bright  array  of 
talent  which  adorned  the  Congress  of  the  United  States;  in  the  conflict 
growing  out  of  the  political  events  of  that  time ;  in  the  struggles  of  party, 
and  amid  the  gloom  and  disasters  which  depressed  the  spirits  of  most  men, 
and  well  nigh  paralyzed  the  energies  of  the  Administration,  his  cheerful 
face,  high  bearing,  commanding  eloquence,  and  iron  will,  gave  strengtk 


REMARKS    OF    MR.    VENABLE.  405 

and  consistency  to  those  elements  which  finally  gave  not  only  suc<ess  but 
glory  to  the  country.  When  dark  clouds  hovered  over  us,  and  there  wag 
little  to  save  from  despair,  the  country  looked  with  hope  to  Clay  and  Cal- 
houn,  to  Lowndes,  and  Crawford,  and  Cheves,  and  looked  not  in  vain.  The 
unbending  will,  the  xmshaken  nerve,  and  the  burning  eloquence  of  Henry 
Clay  did  as  much  to  command  confidence  and  sustain  hope  as  even  the 
news  of  our  first  victory  after  a  succession  of  defeats.  Those  great  names 
are  now  canonized  in  history  ;  he,  too,  has  passed  to  join  them  on  its  page? 
Associated  in  his  long  political  life  with  the  illustrious  Calhoun,  he  sur 
vived  him  but  two  years.  Many  of  us  heard  his  eloquent  tribute  to  h/s 
memory  in  the  Senate-chamber  on  the  annunciation  of  his  death.  And  we 
this  day  unite  in  a  similar  manifestation  of  reverential  regard  to  him  whose 
voice  shall  never  more  charm  the  ear,  whose  burning  thoughts,  borne  on 
that  medium,  shall  no  more  move  the  hearts  of  listening  assemblies. 

"In  the  midst  of  the  highest  specimens  of  our  race,  he  was  always  an 
equal ;  he  was  a  man  among  men.  Bold,  skillful,  and  determined,  he  gave 
character  to  the  party  which  acknowledged  him  as  a  leader ;  impressed 
his  opinions  upon  their  minds,  and  an  attachment  to  himself  upon  their 
hearts.  No  man,  sir,  can  do  this  without  being  eminently  great.  Whoever 
attains  this  position,  must  first  overcome  the  aspirations  of  antagonist  am 
bition,  quiet  the  clamors  of  rivalry,  hold  in  check  the  murmurs  of  jealousy, 
and  overcome  the  instincts  of  vanity  and  self-love  in  the  masses  thus  sub 
dued  to  his  control.  But  few  men  ever  attain  it.  Very  rare  are  the  exam 
ples  of  those  whose  plastic  touch  forms  the  minds  and  directs  the  purposes 
of  a  great  political  party.  This  infallible  indication  of  superiority  belonged 
to  Mr.  Clay.  He  has  exercised  that  control  during  a  long  life ;  and  now, 
through  our  broad  land  the  tidings  of  his  death,  borne  with  electric  speed, 
have  opened  the  fountains  of  sorrow.  Every  city,  town,  village,  and  hamlet, 
will  be  clothed  with  mourning ;  along  our  extended  coast,  the  commercial 
and  military  marine,  with  flags  drooping  at  half-mast,  own  the  bereavement; 
State-houses  draped  in  black,  proclaim  the  extinguishment  of  one  of  the 
great  lights  of  Senates;  and  minute-guns  sound  his  requiem  ! 

"  Sir,  during  the  last  five  years,  I  have  seen  the  venerable  John  Quincy 
Adams,  John  C.  Calhoun,  and  Henry  Clay,  pass  from  among  us,  the  legisla 
tors  of  our  country.  The  race  of  giants  who  '  were  on  the  earth  in  those 
days'  is  well-nigh  gone.  Despite  their  skill,  their  genius,  their  might,  they 
have  sunk  under  the  stroke  of  time.  They  were  our  admiration  and  our 
glory;  a  few  linger  with  us,  the  monuments  of  former  greatness,  the  beacon- 
lights  of  a  past  age.  The  death  of  Henry  Clay  can  not  fail  to  suggest  mel 
ancholy  associations  to  each  member  of  this  House.  These  walls  have 
reechoed  the  silvery  tones  of  his  bewitching  voice  ;  listening  assemblies  have 
hung  upon  his  lips.  The  chair  which  you  fill  has  been  graced  by  his  pres 
ence,  while  his  commanding  person,  and  unequaled  parliamentary  attain 
ments,  inspired  all  with  deference  and  respect.  Chosen  by  acclamation,  be 
cause  of  his  high  qualifications,  he  sustained  himself  before  the  House  and 
the  country.  In  his  supremacy  with  his  party,  and  the  uninterrupted  con 
fidence  which  he  enjoyed  to  the  day  of  his  death,  he  seems  to  have  almost 
discredited  the  truth  of  those  lines  addressed  to  Caesar — 

'  Non  pospunt  primi  cs-se  omnes  omni  in  tempore, 
Summum  ad  gradum  cum  claritatis  voneris, 
Consistes  segre,  et  citius,  quam  ascendas,  cades.'* 

*  '  All  can  not  be  at  all  times  first : 

To  reach  the  topmost  step  of  glory ;  to  stand  there 
More  hard.    Even  swifter  than  we  mount  we  fail.' 


406  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"  If  not  at  all  times  first,  he  stood  equal  with  the  foremost,  and  a  brilliant* 
rapid  rise  knew  no  decline  in  the  confidence  of  those  whose  just  apprecia 
tion  of  his  merits  had  confirmed  his  title  to  renown. 

"The  citizens  of  other  countries  will  deplore  his  death;  the  struggling 
patriots  who  on  our  own  continent  were  cheered  by  his  sympathies,  and  who 
inust  have  perceived  his  influence  in  the  recognition  of  their  independence 
by  this  Government,  have  taught  their  children  to  venerate  his  name.  He 
won  the  civic  crown,  and  the  demonstrations  of  this  hour  own  the  worth  of 
civil  services. 

"  It  was  with  great  satisfaction  that  I  heard  my  friend  from  Kentucky 
[Mr.  Breckinridge],  the  immediate  representative  of  Mr.  Clay,  detail  a  con 
versation  which  disclosed  the  feelings  of  that  eminent  man  in  relation  to  his 
Christian  hope.  These,  Mr.  Speaker,  are  rich  memorials,  precious  reminis 
cences.  A  Christian  statesman  is  the  glory  of  his  age,  and  his  memory  will 
be  glorious  in  after-times;  it  reflects  a  light  coming  from  a  source  which 
clouds  can  not  dim  nor  shadows  obscure.  It  was  my  privilege,  also,  a  short 
time  since,  to  converse  with  this  distinguished  statesman  on  the  subject  of 
his  hopes  in  a  future  state.  Feeling  a  deep  interest,  I  asked  him  frankly 
what  were  his  hopes  in  the  world  to  which  he  was  evidently  hastening.  '  I 
am  pleased,'  said  he,  'my  friend,  that  you  have  introduced  the  subject. '  Con 
scious  that  I  must  die  very  soon,  I  love  to  meditate  upon  the  most  important 
of  all  interests.  I  love  to  converse  and  to  hear  conversations  about  them. 
The  vanity  of  the  world,  and  its  insufficiency  to  satisfy  the  soul  of  man,  has 
been  long  a  settled  conviction  of  my  mind.  Man's  inability  to  secure  by  his 
own  merits  the  approbation  of  God,  I  feel  to  be  true.  I  trust  in  the  atone 
ment  of  the  Savior  of  men,  as  the  ground  of  my  acceptance  and  my  hope 
of  salvation.  My  faith  is  feeble,  but  I  hope  in  His  mercy  and  trust  in  His 
promises.'  To  such  declarations  I  listened  with  the  deepest  interest,  as  I  did 
on  another  occasion,  when  he  said :  '  I  am  willing  to  abide  the  will  of  Heaven, 
and  ready  to  die  when  that  will  shall  determine  it.' 

"He  is  gone,  sir,  professing  the  humble  hope  of  a  Christian.  That  hope, 
alone,  sir,  can  sustain  you,  or  any  of  us.  There  is  one  lonely  and  crushed 
heart  that  has  bowed  before  this  afflictive  event.  Far  away,  at  Ashland,  a 
widowed  wife,  prevented  by  feeble  health  from  attending  his  bedside  and 
soothing  his  painful  hours,  she  has  thought  even  the  electric  speed  of  the  in 
telligence  daily  transmitted  of  his  condition,  too  slow  for  her  aching,  anxious 
bosom.  She  will  find  consolation  in  his  Christian  submission,  and  will  draw 
all  of  comfort  that  such  a  case  admits  from  the  assurance  that  nothing  was 
neglected  by  the  kindness  of  friends  which  could  supply  her  place.  May 
the  guardianship  of  the  widow's  God  be  her  protection,  and  His  consolations 
her  support !" 

MR.  HAVEN*  said :  "  Mr  Speaker,  representing  a  constituency  distinguish 
ed  for  the  constancy  of  its  devotion  to  the  political  principles  of  Mr.  Clay, 
and  for  its  unwavering  attachment  to  his  fortunes  and  his  person — sympa 
thizing  deeply  with  those  whose  more  iatimate  personal  relations  with  him 
have  made  them  feel  most  profoundly  this  general  bereavement — I  desire  to 
say  a  few  words  of  him,  since  he  has  fallen  among  us,  and  been  taken  to  hi« 
fest. 

"  After  the  finished  eulogies  which  have  been  so  eloquently  pronounced 
oy  the  honorable  gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me,  I  will  avoid  a  course  of 
remark  which  might  otherwise  be  deemed  a  repetition,  and  refer  to  the  bear 
ing  of  some  of  the  acts  of  the  deceased  upon  the  interests  and  destinies  of 

*  Solomon  G.  Haven  (Whig),  of  Erie  (formerly  Mr.  Fillraore's)  District,  New  York. 


EULOGY    OF    MR.    BROOKS    OF    N.  Y.  407 

my  own  State.  The  influence  of  his  public  life,  and  of  his  puiely  American 
character,  the  benefits  of  his  wise  forecast,  and  the  results  of  his  efforts  for 
wholesome  and  rational  progress,  are  nowhere  more  strongly  exhibited  thau 
in  the  State  of  New  York. 

"  Our  appreciation  of  his  anxiety  for  the  general  diffusion  of  knowledge 
and  education,  is  manifested  in  our  twelve  thousand  public  libraries,  our 
equal  number  of  common  schools,  and  a  large  number  of  higher  institutions 
of  learning — all  of  which  drew  portions  of  their  support  from  the  share  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  which  his  wise  policy  gave  to  our  State. 
Our  whole  people  are  thus  constantly.reminded  of  their  great  obligations  to 
the  statesman  whose  death  now  afflicts  the  nation  with  sorrow.  Our  exten 
sive  public  works  attest  our  conviction  of  the  utility  and  importance  of  the 
system  of  Internal  Improvements  he  so  ably  advocated ;  and  their  value  and 
productiveness  afford  a  most  striking  evidence  of  the  soundness  and  wisdom 
of  his  policy.  Nor  has  his  influence  been  less  sensibly  felt  in  our  agriculture, 
commerce,  and  manufactures.  Every  department  of  human  industry  ac 
knowledges  his  fostering  care,  and  the  people  of  New  York  are,  in  no  small 
measure,  indebted  to  his  statesmanship  for  the  wealth,  comfort,  contentment, 
and  happiness  so  widely  and  generally  diffused  throughout  the  State. 

"  Well  may  New  York  cherish  his  memory  and  acknowledge  with  grati 
tude  the  benefits  that  his  life  has  conferred.  That  memory  will  be  cherished 
throughout  the  Republic. 

"  When  internal  discord  and  sectional  strife  have  threatened  the  integrity 
o>f  the  Union,  his  just  weight  of  character,  his  large  experience,  his  powers 
of  conciliation  and  acknowledged  patriotism,  have  enabled  him  to  pacify  the 
angry  passions  of  his  countrymen,  and  to  raise  the  bow  of  promise  and  of 
hope  upon  the  clouds  which  have  darkened  the  political  horizon. 

"He  has  passed  from  among  us,  ripe  in  wisdom  and  pure  in  character — 
full  of  years  and  full  of  honors.  He  has  breathed  his  last  amidst  the  bless 
ings  of  a  united  and  a  grateful  nation. 

"  He  was,  in  my  judgment,  particularly  fortunate  in  the  time  of  his  death. 

"He  lived  to  see  his  country,  guided  by  his  wisdom,  come  once  again  un 
hurt  out  of  trying  sectional  difficulties  and  domestic  strife;  and  he  has 
closed  his  eyes  in  death  upon  that  country  while  it  is  in  the  enjoyment  of 
profound  peace,  busy  with  industry,  and  blessed  with  unequaled  pros 
perity. 

It  can  fall  to  the  lot  of  but  few  to  die  amidst  so  warm  a  gratitude  flowing 
from  the  hearts  of  their  countrymen;  and  none  can  leave  a  brighter  exam 
ple  or  a  more  enduring  fame. 

"Mr.  BROOKS.*  Mr.  Speaker,  I  rise  to  add  my  humble  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  a  great  and  good  man  now  to  be  gathered  to  his  fathers.  I  speak 
for  and  from  a  community,  in  whose  hearts  is  enshrined  the  name  of  him 
whom  we  mourn;  who,  however  much  Virginia,  the  land  of  his  birth,  or 
Kentucky,  the  land  of  his  adoption,  may  love  him,  is,  if  possible,  loved 
where  I  live  yet  more.  If  idolatry  had  been  Christian,  or  allowable  even, 
he  would  have  been  our  idol.  But,  as  it  is,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  now, 
his  bust,  his  portrait,  or  some  medal,  has  been  one  of  our  household  gods, 
gracing  not  alone  the  saloon,  and  the  halls  of  wealth,  but  the  humblest 
room  or  workshop  of  almost  every  mechanic  or  laborer.  Proud  monuments 
of  his  policy  as  a  statesman,  as  my  colleague  has  justly  said,  are  all  about 
us,  a»d  we  owe  to  him,  in  a  good  degree,  our  growth,  our  greatness,  our 
p»)8  nty  and  happiness,  as  a  people. 

*  James  Brooks  (Union  Whig),  of  New  York  city 


408  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"  The  great  field  of  Henry  Clay,  Mr.  Speaker,  has  been  here,  on  the  floor 
<jf  this  House,  and  in  the  otheu  wing  of  the  Capitol.  He  has  held  other 
posts  of  higher  nominal  distinction,  but  they  are  all  eclipsed  by  the  brilliancy 
of  his  career  as  a  Congressman.  What  of  glory  he  has  acquired,  or  what 
most  endears  him  to  his  countrymen,  have  been  won  here,  amid  these 
pillars,  under  these  domes  of  the  Capitol. 

'  Si  quarts  monumentum  circumspice.' 

"  The  mind  of  Mr.  Clay  has  been  the  governing  mind  of  the  country 
more  or  less,  ever  since  he  has  been  on  the  stage  of  public  action.  In  a 
minority,  or  a  majority — more,  perhaps,  even  in  a  minority  than  in  the 
majority — he  seems  to  have  had  some  commission,  divine  as  it  were,  to  per 
suade,  to  convince,  to  govern  other  men.  His  patriotism,  his  foresight,  his 
grand  conceptions,  have  created  measures  which  the  secret  fascination  of  his 
manners,  in-door,  or  his  irresistible  eloquence  without,  have  enabled  him 
almost  always  to  frame  into  laws. 

"  Adverse  Administrations  have  yielded  to  him,  or  been  borne  down  by 
him,  or  he  has  taken  them  captive  as  a  leader,  and  carried  the  country  and 
Congress  with  him.  This  power  he  has  wielded  now  for  nearly  half  a  cen 
tury,  with  nothing  but  reason  and  eloquence  to  back  him.  And  yet,  when 
he  came  here,  years  ago,  he  came  from  a  then  frontier  State  of  this  Union, 
heralded  by  no  loud  trumpet  of  fame,  nay,  quite  unknown,  unfortified  even 
by  any  position,  social  or  pecuniary;  to  quote  his  own  words,  his  only 
'  heritage  had  been  infancy,  indigence,  and  ignorance.' 

"In  these  days,  Mr.  Speaker,  when  mere  civil  qualifications  for  high 
public  place — when  long  civil  training  and  practical  statesmanship — are  held 
subordinate,  a  most  discouraging  prospect  would  be  before  our  rising  young 
men,  were  it  not  for  some  such  names  as  Lowndes,  Crawford,  Clinton, 
Gaston,  Calhoun,  and  Clay,  scattered  along  the  pages  of  our  history,  as  stars 
or  constellations  in  a  cloudless  sky.  They  shine  forth,  and  show  us  that 
if  the  Chief-Magistracy  can  not  be  won  by  such  qualifications,  a  memory 
among  men  can  be — a  hold  upon  posterity  as  firm,  as  lustrous — nay,  more 
imperishable.  In  the  Capitolium  of  Kome  there  are  long  rows  of  marble 
slabs,  on  which  are  recorded  the  names  of  the  Roman  Consuls ;  but  the  eye 
wanders  over  this  wilderness  of  letters  but  to  light  up  and  to  kindle  upon 
some  Cato  or  Cicero.  To  win  such  fame,  thus  unsullied,  as  Mr.  Clay  has 
won,  is  worth  any  man's  ambition.  And  how  was  it  won  ?  By  courting  the 
shifting  gales  of  popularity?  No,  never  1  By  truckling  to  the  schemes, 
the  arts,  and  seductions  of  the  demagogue?  Never,  never!  His  hardest 
battles  as  a  public  man — his  greatest,  most  illustrious  achievements — 
have  been  against,  at  first,  an  adverse  public  opinion.  To  gain  an 
imperishable  name,  he  has  often  braved  the  perishable  popularity  of  the 
moment  That  sort,  of  courage  which,  in  a  public  man,  I  deem  the  highest 
of  all  courage ;  that  sort  of  courage  most  necessary  under  our  form  of 
government  to  guide  as  well  as  to  save  a  State,  Mr.  Clay  was  possessed 
of — more  than  any  public  man  I  ever  knew.  Mere  physical  courage, 
valuable,  indispensable  though  it  be,  we  share  but  with  the  brute — 
but  moral  courage,  to  dare  to  do  right,  amid  all  temptations  to  do  wrong, 
is,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  very  highest  species,  the  noblest  heroism,  under 
institutions  like  ours.  "I  had  rather  be  right  than  be  President,"  wati 
Mr.  Clay's  sublime  reply  when  pressed  to  refrain  from  some  measure  that 
would  mar  his  popularity.  These  lofty  words  were  a  clue  to  his  whole 
character — the  secret  of  his  hold  upon  the  heads  as  well  as  hearts  of  th« 
American  people — nay,  the  key  to  his  immortality. 


EULOGY    OF    MR.    FAULKNER.  400 

"Another  of  the  keys,  Mr.  Speaker,  of  his  universal  reputation,  was  his 
intense  nationality.  When  taunted  but  recently,  almost  within  our  hearing 
as  it  were,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  by  a  Southern  Senator,  as  being  a 
Southern  man  unfaithful  to  the  South,  his  indignant  but  patriotic  exclama 
tion  was :  '  I  know  no  South — no  North,  no  East,  no  West.'  The  country, 
the  whole  country,  loved,  adored,  reverenced  such  a  man.  The  soil  of 
Virginia  may  be  his  birthplace :  the  sod  of  Kentucky  will  cover  his  grave 
—what  was  mortal  they  claim — but  the  spirit,  the  soul,  the  genius  of  the 
mighty  man,  the  immortal  part,  these  belong  to  his  country  and  to  his 
God." 

Mr.  FAULKNER.*  "After  the  many  able  and  eloquent  addresses  to  which 
we  have  listened  this  morning,  I  fear,  sir,  that  it  will  not  be  in  my  power 
to  add  anything  to  the  interest  of  this  occasion.  And  yet,  representing,  as 
I  do,  in  part,  that  State  which  gave  birth  to  the  distinguished  man  whose 
death  has  this  day  been  announced  on  this  floor,  and  having  for  many  years 
held  toward  him  the  most  cordial  relations  of  friendship,  personal  and 
political,  I  feel  that  I  should  fail  to  discharge  an  appropriate  duty,  if  I  per 
mitted  this  occasion  to  pass  by  without  sorae  expression  of  the  feeling  which 
such  an  event  is  so  well  calculated  to  elicit.  It  is  true,  sir,  that  this  intelli 
gence  does  not  fall  upon  our  ears  unexpectedly;  for  months  the  public 
mind  has  been  prepared  for  the  great  national  loss  which  we  now  deplore ; 
and  yet,  as  familiar  as  the  daily  and  hourly  reports  have  made  us  with  his 
hopeless  condition  and  gradual  decline,  and  although 

'  Like  a  shadow  thrown 
Softly  and  sweetly  from  a  passing  cloud, 
Death  fell  upon  him,' 

it  is  impossible  that  a  light  of  such  surpassing  splendor  should  be,  as  it  is 
now,  forever  extinguished  from  our  view,  without  producing  a  shock,  deep 
ly  and  painfully  felt  to  the  utmost  limits  of  this  great  Republic.  Sir,  wo 
all  feel  that  a  mighty  intellect  has  passed  from  among  us ;  but,  happily  for 
this  country,  happily  for  mankind,  not  until  it  had  accomplished  to  some 
extent  the  exalted  mission  for  which  it  had  been  sent  upon  this  earth — not 
until  it  had  reached  the  full  maturity  of  its  usefulness  and  power — not  until 
it  had  shed  a  bright  and  radiant  lustre  over  our  national  renown — not  until 
time  had  enabled  it  to  bequeath  the  rich  treasures  of  its  thought  and  expe 
rience  for  the  guidance  and  instruction  of  the  present  and  of  succeeding 
generations. 

"Sir,  it  is  difficult — it  is  impossible — within  the  limit  allowed  for  remarks 
upon  occasions  of  this  kind,  to  do  justice  to  a  great  historical  character  like 
Henry  Clay.  He  was  one  of  that  class  of  men  whom  Scaliger  designates  as 
homines  centarii — men  that  appear  upon  the  earth  but  once  in  a  century. 
His  fame  is  the  growth  of  years,  and  it  would  require  time  to  unfold  tfie 
elements  which  have  combined  to  impart  to  it  so  much  of  stability  and 
grandeur.  Volumes  have  already  been  written,  and  volumes  will  continue 
to  be  written,  to  record  those  eminent  and  distinguished  public  services 
which  have  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  American  statesmen  and  pa 
triots.  The  highest  talent,  fired  by  a  fervid  and  patriotic  enthusiasm,  has 
already  and  will  continue  to  exhaust  its  powers,  to  portray  those  striking 
and  generous  incidents  of  his  life,  those  shining  and  captivating  qualities 
of  his  heart,  which  have  made  him  one  of  the  most  beloved,  as  he  was  one 
of  the  most  admired,  of  men ;  and  yet  the  subject  itself  will  remain  as  fresh 
and  exhaustless  as  if  hundreds  of  the  best  intellects  of  the  land  had  not 
*  Charlei  James  Faulkner  (Unionist,  late  Whig),  of  Virginia. 
E 


410  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

quaffed  the  inspiration  of  their  genins  from  the  ever-gushing  and  overflow 
ing  fountains  of  his  fame.  It  is  impossible  that  a  reputation  so  grand  and 
colossal  as  that  which  attaches  to  the  name  of  Henry  Clay,  could  rest 
for  its  base  upon  any  single  virtue,  however  striking,  or  upon  any  single 
act,  no  matter  how  marked  or  distinguished.  Such  a  reputation  as  he  has 
left  behind  him,  could  only  be  the  result  of  a  long  life  of  illustrious  public 
service.  And  such  it  truly  was.  For  nearly  half  a  century,  he  has  been  a 
prominent  actor  in  all  the  stirring  and  eventful  scenes  of  American  history ; 
fashioning  and  moulding  many  of  the  most  important  measures  of  public 
policy  by  his  bold  and  sagacious  mind,  and  arresting  others  by  his  uncon 
querable  energy  and  resistless  force  of  eloquence.  And,  however  much  the 
members  of  this  body  may  differ  in  opinion  as  to  the  wisdom  of  many  of  hia 
views  of  national  domestic  policy,  there  is  not  one  upon  this  floor — no,  sir, 
not  one  in  this  nation — who  will  deny  to  him  frankness  and  directness  as  a 
public  man — a  genius  for  statesmanship  of  the  highest  order — extraordinary 
capacities  for  public  usefulness,  and  an  ardent  and  elevated  patriotism, 
without  stain  and  without  reproach. 

"  In  referring  to  a  career  of  public  service  so  varied  and  extended  as  that 
of  Mr.  Clay,  and  to  a  character  so  rich  in  every  great  and  manly  virtue,  it 
is  only  possible  to  glance  at  a  few  of  the  most  prominent  of  those  points  of 
his  personal  history  which  have  given  to  him  so  distinguished  a  place  in  the 
affections  of  his  countrymen. 

"  In  the  whole  character  of  Mr.  Clay,  in  all  that  attached  or  belonged  to 
it,  you  find  nothing  that  is  not  essentially  American.  Born  in  the  darkest 
period  of  our  revolutionary  struggle — reared  from  infancy  to  manhood 
among  those  great  minds  which  gave  the  first  impulses  to  that  mighty  move 
ment — he  early  imbibed  and  sedulously  cherished  those  great  principles  of 
civil  and  political  liberty,  which  he  so  brilliantly  illustrated  in  his  subse 
quent  public  career,  and  which  has  made  his  name  a  watchword  of  hope 
and  consolation  to  the  oppressed  of  all  the  earth.  In  his  intellectual  train 
ing,  he  was  the  pure  creation  of  our  own  republican  soil.  Few  if  any  allu 
sions  are  to  be  seen  in  his  speeches  or  writings  to  ancient  or  modern  litera 
ture,  or  to  the  thoughts  and  ideas  of  other  men.  His  country — its  institu 
tions — its  policy — its  interests — its  destiny — form  the  exclusive  topics  of 
these  eloquent  harangues  which,  while  they  are  destitute  of  the  elaborate 
finish,  have  all  the  ardor  and  intensity  of  thought,  the  earnestness  of  pur 
pose,  the  cogency  of  reasoning,  the  vehemence  of  style,  and  the  burning 
patriotism — which  mark  the  productions  of  the  great  Athenian  orator. 

"  One  of  the  most  distinguishing  characteristics  of  Mr.  Clay  as  a  public 
man,  was  his  loyalty  to  truth  and  to  the  honest  convictions  of  his  own 
mind.  He  deceived  no  man — he  would  not  permit  his  own  heart  to  be  de 
ceived  by  any  of  those  seductive  influences  which  too  often  warp  the  judg 
ment  of  men  in  public  life.  He  never  paused  to  consider  how  far  any  step 
which  he  was  about  to  take  would  lead  to  his  own  personal  advancement ; 
he  never  calculated  what  he  might  lose  or  what  he  might  gain  by  his  ad 
vocacy  of,  or  his  opposition  to,  any  particular  measure.  His  single  inquiry 
was,  'Is  it  right?'  Is  it  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution  of  the  land! 
Will  it  redound  to  the  permanent  welfare  and  interest  of  the  country? 
When  satisfied  upon  these  points,  his  determination  was  fixed — his  purpose 
was  immovable.  '  I  had  rather  be  rfght  than  President,'  was  the  expression 
of  his  genuine  feelings;  and  the  principle  by  which  he  was  controlled  in 
his  public  career — a  saying  worthy  of  immortality,  and  proper  to  be  in 
scribed  upon  the  heart  of  every  young  man  in  this  Republic.  And  yet,  sir, 
with  all  of  that  persona  and  moral  intrepidity  which  so  eminently  marked 


EULOGY    OF    MR.    FAULKNER.  411 

the  character  of  Mr.  Clay — with  his  well-known  inflexibility  of  purpose, 
and  unyielding  determination — such  was  the  genuine  sincerity  of  his  patri 
otism,  and  such  his  thorough  comprehension  of  those  principles  of  com 
promise,  upon  which  the  whole  structure  of  our  Government  was  founded, 
that  no  one  was  more  prompt  to  relax  the  rigor  of  his  policy  the  moment 
he  perceived  that  it  was  calculated  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  the  States,  or 
endanger,  in  any  degree,  the  stability  of  the  Government.  With  him,  the 
love  of  this  Union  was  a  passion — an  absorbing  sentiment  which  gave  color 
to  every  act  of  his  public  life.  It  triumphed  over  party ;  it  triumphed  over 
policy ;  it  subdued  the  natural  fierceness  and  haughtiness  of  his  temper,  and 
brought  him  into  the  most  kindly  and  cordial  relations  with  all  those  who, 
upon  all  other  questions,  were  deeply  and  bitterly  opposed  to  him.  It 
has  been  asserted,  sir,  upon  high  medical  authority,  and  doubtless  with 
truth,  that  his  life  was,  in  all  probability,  shortened  ten  years  by  the  ardu 
ous  and  extraordinary  labors  which  he  assumed  at  the  memorable  session 
of  1850.  If  so,  he  has  added  the  crowning  glory  of  the  Martyr  to  the  spot 
less  fame  of  the  Patriot ;  and  we  may  well  hope  that  a  great  national 
pacification,  purchased  at  such  a  sacrifice,  will  long  continue  to  cement  the 
bonds  of  this  great  and  glorious  Union. 

"  Mr.  Clay  possessed,  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  qualities  of  a  great  popu 
lar  leader,  and  History,  I  will  assume  to  say,  affords  no  example,  in  any  Re 
public,  ancient  or  modern,  of  any  individual  that  so  fearlessly  carried  out 
the  convictions  of  his  own  judgment,  and  so  sparingly  flattered  the  preju 
dices  of  popular  feeling,  who  for  so  long  a  period  exercised  the  same  con 
trolling  influence  over  the  public  mind.  Earnest  in  whatever  measures  he 
sustained — fearless  in  attack — dexterous  in  defense — abounding  in  intellec 
tual  resource — eloquent  in  debate — of  inflexible  purpose,  and  with  a  cour 
age  never  to  submit  or  yield,  no  man  ever  lived  with  higher  qualifications 
to  rally  a  desponding  party,  or  to  lead  an  embattled  host  to  victory.  That 
he  never  attained  the  highest  post  of  honorable  ambition  in  this  country,  is 
not  to  be  ascribed  to  any  want  of  capacity  as  a  popular  leader ;  nor  the  ab 
sence  of  those  qualities  which  attract  the  fidelity  and  devotion  of  '  troops' 
of  admiring  friends.  It  was  the  fortune  of  Napoleon,  at  a  critical  period  of 
his  destiny,  to  be  brought  into  collision  with  the  star  of  "Wellington,  and  it 
was  the  fortune  of  Henry  Clay  to  have  encountered,  in  his  political  orbit> 
another  great  and  original  mind,  gifted  with  equal  power  for  commanding 
success,  and  blessed  with  more  fortunate  elements,  concurring  at  the  time, 
of  securing  popular  favor.  The  struggle  was  such  as  might  have  been  an 
ticipated,  from  the  collision  of  two  such  fierce  and  powerful  rivals. 

"  For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  this  great  Republic  has  been  con 
vulsed  to  its  centre  by  the  divisions  which  have  sprung  from  their  respec 
tive  opinions,  policy,  and  personal  destinies;  and  even  now,  when  they 
have  both  been  removed  to  a  higher  and  better  sphere  of  existence,  and 
every  unkind  feeling  has  been  quenched  in  the  triumphs  of  the  grave,  this 
country  still  feels,  and  for  years  will  continue  to  feel,  the  influence  of  these 
agitations  to  which  their  powerful  and  impressive  characters  gave  impulse. 

"  But  I  must  pause.  If  I  were  to  attempt  to  present  all  the  aspects  in 
which  the  character  of  this  illustrious  man  will  challenge  the  applause  of 
history,  I  should  fatigue  the  House  and  violate  the  just  limit  allowed  for 
such  remarks. 

"I  can  not  conclude,  however,  without  making  some  more  special  allu 
sion  to  Mr.  Clay,  as  a  native  of  that  State  which  I  have  the  honor  in  part 
to  represent  upon  this  floor.  We  are  all  proud,  and  very  properly  proud, 
of  the  distinguished  men  to  whom  our  respective  States  have  given  birth. 


412  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

It  is  a  just  and  laudable  emulation,  and  one,  in  a  confederated  government 
like  ours,  proper  to  be  encouraged.  And  while  men  like  Mr.  Clay  very 
rapidly  rise  above  the  confined  limits  of  State  reputation  and  acquire  a  na 
tional  fame,  in  which  all  claim  and  all  have  an  equal  interest,  still  there  is 
a  propriety  and  fitness  in  preserving  the  relation  between  the  individual 
and  his  State.  Virginia  has  given  birth  to  a  large  number  of  men  who 
have,  by  their  distinguished  talents  and  services,  impressed  their  names 
upon  the  hearts  and  memories  of  their  countrymen ;  but,  certainly,  since 
the  colonial  era,  she  has  given  birth  to  no  man  who,  in  the  massive  and 
gigantic  proportions  of  his  character,  and  in  the  splendor  of  his  native  en 
dowments,  can  be  compared  to  Henry  Clay.  At  an  early  age  he  emigrated 
from  his  native  State,  and  found  a  home  in  Kentucky.  In  a  speech  which 
he  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in  February,  1842,  and 
which  I  well  remember,  upon  the  occasion  of  his  resigning  his  seat  in  that 
body,  he  expressed  the  wish  that  when  that  event  should  occur,  which  has 
now  clothed  the  city  in  mourning,  and  filled  the  nation  with  grief,  '  that 
his  earthly  remains  should  be  laid  under  the  green  sod  of  Kentucky,  with 
those  of  her  gallant  and  patriotic  sons.' 

"  Sir,  however  gratifying  it  might  be  to  us  that  those  remains  should  be 
transferred  to  his  native  soil,  and  there  mingle  with  the  ashes  of  Washing 
ton,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Lee,  and  Henry,  we  can  not  complain  of  the  very 
natural  preference  which  he  has  there  himself  expressed.  If  Virginia  did 
give  him  birth,  Kentucky  has  nourished  him  in  his  manhood — has  freely 
lavished  upon  him  her  highest  honors — has  shielded  him  from  harm  when 
the  clouds  of  calumny  and  detraction  gathered  heavily  and  loweringly 
about  him,  and  she  has  watched  over  his  fame  with  the  tenderness  and  zeal 
of  a  mother.  Sir,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  he  should  have  expressed 
the  wish  which  he  did,  to  be  laid  by  the  side  of  her  gallant  and  patriotic 
eons.  Happy  Kentucky  !  Happy  in  having  an  adopted  son  so  worthy  of 
her  best  honors.  Happy  in  the  unshaken  fidelity  and  loyalty  with  which, 
for  near  half  a  century,  those  honors  have  been  so  steadfastly  and  grace 
fully  accorded  to  him. 

"Sir,  while  Virginia,  in  the  exercise  of  her  own  just  judgment,  has 
differed  from  Mr.  Clay  in  some  of  his  views  of  national  policy,  she  has 
never,  at  any  period  of  his  public  career,  failed  to  regard  him  with  pride 
as  one  of  her  most  distinguished  sons ;  to  honor  the  purity  and  the  manli 
ness  of  his  character,  and  to  award  to  him  the  high  credit  of  an  honest  and 
sincere  devotion  to  his  country's  welfare.  And  now,  sir,  that  death  has  ex 
tinguished  for  ever  the  workings  of  that  mip-hty  intellect,  and  sealed  in 
eternal  silence  those  eloquent  lips  upon  whose  accents  thousands  have  so 
often  hung  in  rapture,  I  shall  stand  justified  in  saying  that  a  wail  of  lamen 
tation  will  be  heard  from  her  people — her  whole  people — reverberating 
through  her  mountains  and  valleys,  as  deep,  as  genuine,  and  as  sincere  aa 
that  which  I  know  will  swell  the  noble  hearts  and  the  heaving  bosoms  of 
the  people  of  his  own  cherished  and  beloved  Kentucky. 

"  Sir,  as  I  walked  to  the  Capitol  this  morning,  every  object  which  attracted 
my  eye  admonished  me  that  a  national  benefactor  had  departed  from  among 
us.  He  is  gone  1  Henry  Clay,  the  idol  of  his  friends,  the  ornament  of  the 
Senate-chamber,  the  pride  of  his  country,  he  whose  presence  gathered 
crowds  of  his  admiring  fellow-men  aiound  him,  as  if  he  had  been  one  de 
scended  from  above,  has  passed  forever  from  our  view. 

'  His  soul,  enlarged  from  its  vile  bonds,  has  gone 
To  that  refulgent  world  where  it  shall  swim 
In  liquid  light,  and  float  on  eeas  of  bliss.' 


EULOGY    OF    MR.    PARKER    OF    IND.  413 

But  the  memory  of  his  virtues  and  of  his  services  will  be  gratefully  em 
balmed  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  and  generations  yet  unborn  will  be 
taught  to  lisp  with  reverence  and  enthusiasm  the  name  of  Henry  Clay." 

MR.  PARKER*  said:  "Mr.  Speaker,  this  is  a  solemn — a  consecrated  hour. 
And  I  would  not  detain  the  members  of  the  House  from  indulging  in  the 
silent  eloquence  of  their  own  feelings,  so  grateful  to  hearts  chastened  as 
ours. 

"  But  I  can  not  restrain  an  expression  from  a  bosom  pained  with  its  full 
ness. 

"  When  my  young  thoughts  first  took  cognizance  of  the  fact  that  I  have 
a  country,  my  eye  was  attracted  by  the  magnificent  proportions  of  Henry 
Clay. 

"  The  idea  absorbed  me  then,  that  he  was,  above  all  other  men,  the  em 
bodiment  of  my  country's  genius. 

"  I  have  watched  him ;  I  have  studied  him ;  I  have  admired  him — and, 
God  forgive  me !  for  he  was  but  a  man,  '  of  like  passions  with  us' — I  fear  I 
have  idolized  him,  until  this  hour. 

"But  he  has  gone  from  among  men;  and  it  is  for  us  now  to  awake  and 
apply  ourselves,  with  renewed  fervor  and  increased  fidelity,  to  the  welfare 
of  the  country,  HE  loved  so  well  and  served  so  truly  and  so  long — the  glorious 
country  yet  saved  to  us  1 

"  Yes,  Henry  Clay  has  fallen  at  last! — as  the  ripe  oak  falls,  in  the  stillness 
of  the  forest.  But  the  verdant  and  gorgeous  richness  of  his  glories  will  only 
fade  and  wither  from  the  earth,  when  his  country's  history  shall  have  been 
forgotten. 

"  '  One  generation  passeth  away  and  another  generation  cometh.'  Thus  it 
hath  been  from  the  beginning ;  and  thus  it  will  be,  until  time  shall  be  n« 
longer. 

"  Yesterday  morning,  at  eleven  o'clock,  the  spirit  of  Henry  Clay — so  long 
the  pride  and  glory  of  his  own  country,  and  the  admiration  of  all  the  world 
— was  yet  with  us,  though  struggling  to  be  free.  Ere  '  high  noon'  came,  it 
had  passed  over  '  the  dark  river,'  through  the  gate,  into  the  celestial  city, 
inhabited  by  all  the  'just  made  perfect' 

"May  not  our  rapt  vision  contemplate  him  there,  this  day,  in  sweet  com 
munion  with  the  dear  friends  that  have  gone  before  him  ? — with  Madison, 
and  Jefferson,  and  Washington,  and  Henry,  and  Franklin — with  the  eloquent 
Tully,  with  the  '  divine  Plato,'  witli  Aaron,  the  Levite,  who  could  '  speak 
well' — with  all  the  great  and  good,  since  and  before  the  flood  ? 

"  His  princely  tread  has  graced  these  aisles  for  the  last  time.  These  halls 
will  wake  no  more  to  the  magic  music  of  his  voice. 

"  Did  that  tall  spirit,  in  its  ethereal  form,  enter  the  courts  of  the  upper 
sanctuary,  bearing  itself  comparably  with  the  spirits  there,  as  was  his  walk 
among  men? 

"  Did  the  mellifluous  tones  of  his  greeting  there  enrapture  the  hosts  of 
Heaven,  comparably  with  his  strains  '  to  stir  men's  blood'  on  earth  ? 

"  Then,  may  we  not  fancy,  when  it  was  announced  to  the  inhabitants  of 
that  better  country:  'HE  COMES! — HE  COMES!' — there  was  a  rustling  of 
angel- wings — a  thrilling  joy — up  there,  only  to  be  witnessed  once  in  an 
earthly  age  ? 

"  Adieu  I — a  last  adieu  to  thee,  Henry  Clay ! 

"The  hearts  of  all  thy  countrymen  are  melted,  on  this  day,  because  of  the 
thought  that  thou  art  gone. 

*  Samuel  W.  Parker  (Whig),  of  Indiana. 


414  LIFE    OF    HENKV    CLAY. 

"  Could  we  have  held  the  hand  of  the  '  insatiate  archer,'  thou  hadst  not 
died ;  but  thou  wouldst  have  tarried  with  us,  in  the  full  grandeur  of  thy 
greatness,  until  we  had  no  longer  need  of  a  country. 

"  But  we  thank  our  Heavenly  Father  that  thou  wast  given  to  us ;  and  that 
thou  didst  survive  so  long. 

"  "We  would  cherish  thy  memory  while  we  live,  as  our  country's  JEWEL — 
than  which  none  14  richer.  And  we  will  teach  our  children  the  lessons  of 
matchless  patriotism  thou  hast  taught  us ;  with  the  fond  hope  that  our 
JBERTY  and  our  UNION  may  only  expire  with  'the  last  of  earth.'" 

MR.  GENTRY*  said :  "  Mr.  Speaker,  I  do  not  rise  to  pronounce  a  eulogy 
on  the  life  and  character  and  public  services  of  the  illustrious  orator  and 
statesman  whose  death  this  nation  deplores.  Suitably  to  perform  that  task, 
a  higher  eloquence  than  I  possess  might  essay  in  vain.  The  gushing  tears 
of  the  nation,  the  deep  grief  which  oppresses  the  hearts  of  more  than 
twenty  millions  of  people,  constitute  a  more  eloquent  eulogium  upon  the 
life,  and  character,  and  patriotic  services  of  Henry  Clay,  than  the  power  of 
language  can  express.  In  no  part  of  our  country  is  that  character  more  ad 
mired,  or  those  public  services  more  appreciated,  than  in  the  State  which 
I  have  the  honor,  in  part,  to  represent  I  claim  for  the  people  of  that  State, 
a  full  participation  in  the  general  wo  which  the  sad  announcement  of  to-day 
will  everywhere  inspire." 

MR.  BOWIE. f  "I  rise  not  to  utter  the  measured  phrases  of  premeditated 
wo,  but  to  speak  as  would  my  constituents  speak,  if  they  stood  around  the 
grave  now  opened  to  receive  the  mortal  remains,  not  of  a  statesman  only, 
but  of  a  beloved  friend.  If  there  is  a  State  in  this  Union,  other  than  Ken 
tucky,  which  sends  up  a  wail  of  more  bitter  and  sincere  sorrow  than  another, 
that  State  is  Maryland.  In  her  midst,  this  departed  Statesman  was  a  fre 
quent  and  a  welcome  guest  At  many  a  board,  and  many  a  fireside,  his 
noble  form  was  the  light  of  the  eyes  and  the  idol  of  the  heart.  Throughout 
her  borders,  in  cottage,  hamlet,  and  cities,  his  name  is  a  household  word,  his 
thoughts  are  familiar  sentences.  Though  not  permitted  to  be  first  at  his 
cradle,  Maryland  would  be  last  at  his  tomb.  Through  all  the  phases  of  po 
litical  fortune,  amid  all  the  storms  which  darkened  his  career,  Maryland 
cherished  him  in  her  inmost  heart,  as  the  most  gifted,  patriotic,  and  eloquent 
of  men ;  and  for  him  daily,  to  this  hour,  prayers  ascend,  night  and  morning, 
for  his  temporal  and  eternal  welfare.  Maryland  would,  in  the  language  of 
inspiration,  exclaim :  '  This  day  hath  a  prince  and  a  ruler  fallen  in  Israel !' 
Daughters  of  America,  weep  for  him  who  hath  '  clothed  you  in  scarlet  and 
fine  linen  1' 

"  The  husbandman  at  his  plough,  the  artisan  at  the  anvil,  the  seaman  on 
the  mast,  will  pause  and  drop  a  tear  when  he  hears  that  Clay  is  no  more. 

"The  advocate  for  freedom  in  both  hemispheres,  he  will  be  lamented  alike 
on  the  shores  of  the  Hellespont  and  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  Orin 
oco.  The  freed  men  of  Liberia,  learning  and  practicing  the  art  of  self- 
government,  and  civilizing  Africa,  have  lost  a  patron  and  protector,  a  father 
and  friend.  America  mourns  the  departure  of  a  luminary,  which  enlightened 
and  illustrated  the  continent ;  the  United  States,  a  counsellor  of  deepest  wis 
dom  and  purest  purpose ;  mankind,  the  advocate  of  human  rights  and  con 
stitutional  liberty." 

*  Meredith  P.  Gentry  (Whig),  of  Tennessee. 
1  Richard  J.  Bowie  (Whig),  of  Maryland. 


EULOGY    OF    MR.    WALSH    OF    MD.  415 

MB.  WALSH*  said :  "  Mr.  Speaker,  the  illustrious  man  whose  death  we  this 
day  mourn,  was  so  long  my  political  leader — so  long  almost  the  object  of  my 
personal  idolatry,  that  I  can  not  allow  that  he  shall  go  down  to  the  grave, 
without  a  word  at  least  of  affectionate  remembrance — without  a  tribute  to 
a  memory,  which  will  exact  tributes  as  long  as  a  heart  shall  be  found  to  beat 
within  the  bosom  of  civilized  man,  and  human  agency  shall  be  adequate  in 
any  form  to  give  them  an  expression.  And  even,  sir,  if  I  had  no  heart-felt 
sigh  to  pour  out  here — if  I  had  no  tear  for  that  coffin's  lid,  I  should  do  in 
justice  to  those  whose  representative  in  part  I  am,  if  I  did  not  in  this  pres 
ence,  and  at  this  time,  raise  my  voice  to  swell  the  accents  of  the  profoundest 
public  sorrow. 

"The  State  of  Maryland  has  always  vied  with  Kentucky  in  love  and 
adoration  of  his  name.  Her  people  have  gathered  around  him,  with  all  the 
fervor  of  a  first  affection,  and  with  more  than  its  duration.  Troops  of  friends 
have  ever  clustered  about  his  pathway  with  a  personal  devotion,  which  each 
man  of  them  regarded  as  the  highest  individual  honor — friends,  sir,  to  whose 
firesides  the  tidings  of  his  death  will  go  with  all  the  withering  influences 
which  are  felt  when  household  ties  are  severed. 

"I  wish,  sir,  I  could  offer  now  a  proper  memorial  for  such  a  subject,  and 
such  an  affection.  But,  as  I  strive  to  utter  it,  I  feel  the  disheartening  influ 
ence  of  the  well  known  truth,  that  in  view  of  death  all  minds  sink  into 
triteness.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  sir,  that  the  great  leveler  of  our  race 
would  vindicate  his  title  to  be  so  considered,  by  making  all  men  think  alike 
in  regard  to  his  visitation — '  The  thousand  thoughts  that  begin  and  end  in 
one,' — the  desolation  here — the  eternal  hope  hereafter — are  influences  felt 
alike  by  the  lowest  intellect  and  the  loftiest  genius. 

"Mr.  Chairman,  a  statesman  for  more  than  fifty  years  in  the  councils  of 
his  country,  whose  peculiar  charge  it  was  to  see  that  the  Republic  suffered 
no  detriment — a  patriot  for  all  times,  all  circumstances,  and  all  emergencies 
— has  passed  away  from  the  trials  and  triumphs  of  the  world,  and  gone  to 
his  reward.  Sad  as  are  the  emotions  which  such  an  event  would  ordinarily 
excite,  their  intensity  is  deeply  heightened  by  the  matters  so  fresh  withii* 
the  memories  of  us  all — 

'  Oh  !  think  how  to  his  latest  day, 
When  Death,  just  hovering,  claimed  his  prey, 
With  Palinurus'  unaltered  mood, 
Firm  at  his  dangerous  post  he  stood, 
Each  call  for  needful  rest  repelled, 
With  dying  hand  the  rudder  held ; 
Then,  while  on  freedom's  thousand  plains 
One  unpolluted  church  remains, 
Whose  peaceful  bells  ne'er  sent  around ; 
The  bloody  tocsin's  maddening  sound ; 
But  still,  upon  the  hallowed  day, 
Convoke  the  swains  to  praise  and  pray, 
While  faith  and  civil  peace  are  dear, 
Greet  his  cold  marble  with  a  tear : 
He  who  preserved  them — Clay  lies  here  t' 

"In  a  character,  Mr.  Speaker,  so  illustrious  and  beautiful,  it  la  difficult  to 
select  any  point  for  particular  notice  from  those  which  go  to  make  up  its 
noble  proportions;  but  we  may  now,  around  his  honored  grave,  call  to 
grateful  recollection  that  invincible  spirit  which  no  personal  sorrow  could 
sully,  and  no  disaster  could  overcome.  Be  assured,  sir,  that  he  has  in  thia 
regard,  left  a  legacy  to  the  young  men  of  the  republic  almost  as  sacred  and 
as  dear  as  that  liberty  of  which  his  life  was  a  blessed  illustration. 

*  Thomas  Yates  Walsh  (Whig),  of  Maryland. 


416  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"We  can  all  remember,  sir,  when  adverse  political  results  disheartened 
his  friends,  and  made  them  feel  even  as  men  without  hope,  his  own  clarion 
voice  was  still  heard  in  the  assertion  and  the  pursuit  of  rights,  as  bold  and  as 
eloquent  as  when  it  first  proclaimed  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  and  its  talis 
man  ic  tones  struck  off  the  badges  of  bondage  from  the  lands  of  the  Incas 
and  the  plains  of  Marathon. 

"Mr.  Speaker,  in  the  exaltation  of  the  statesman,  he  did  not  forget  the 
duties  of  the  man.  He  was  an  affectionate  adviser  on  all  points  wherein 
inexperienced  youth  might  require  counsel.  He  was  a  disinterested  sympa 
thizer  in  personal  sorrows  that  called  for  consolation.  He  was  ever  upright 
and  honorable  in  all  the  duties  incident  to  his  relations  in  life. 

"To  an  existence  so  lovely,  Heaven  in  its  mercy  granted  a  fitting  and  ap 
propriate  close.  It  was  the  prayer,  Mr.  Speaker,  of  a  distinguished  citizen, 
who  died  some  years  since  in  this  metropolis,  even  while  his  spirit  was 
fluttering  for  its  final  flight,  that  he  might  depart  gracefully.  It  may  not 
be  presumptuous  to  say,  that  what  was  in  that  instance  the  aspiration  of  a 
chivalric  gentleman,  was  in  this  the  realization  of  the  dying  Christian,  in 
which  was  blended  all  that  human  dignity  could  require,  with  all  that 
Divine  Grace  had  conferred ;  in  which  the  firmness  of  the  man  was  only 
transcended  by  the  fervor  of  the  penitent. 

"A  short  period  before  his  death,  he  remarked  to  one  by  his  bedside, 
that  he  was  fearful  he  was  becoming  selfish,  as  his  thoughts  were  entirely 
Withdrawn  from  the  world,  and  centered  upon  eternity.  This,  sir,  was  but 
the  purification  of  his  noble  spirit  from  all  the  dross  of  earth — a  happy  il 
lustration  of  what  the  religious  muse  has  so  sweetly  sung : 

'No  sin  to  stain — no  lure  to  stay 

The  soul,  as  home  she  springs ; 
Thy  sunshine  on  her  joyful  way, 
Thy  freedom  in  her  wings.' 

"Mr.  Speaker,  the  solemnities  of  this  hour  may  soon  be  forgotten.  "We 
may  come  back  from  the  new-made  grave  only  still  to  show  that  we  con 
sider  'eternity  the  bubble,  life  and  time  the  enduring  substance.'  "We  may 
not  pause  long  enough  by  the  brink,  to  ask  which  of  us  revelers  of  the  day 
Bhall  next  be  at  rest.  But  be  assured,  sir,  that  upon  the  records  of  mortality 
will  never  be  inscribed  a  name  more  illustrious  than  that  of  the  statesman, 
patrio^  and  friend,  whom  the  nation  mourns." 

The  SPEAKER:  *  "The  Chair  asks  leave  to  give  notice  to  the  House,  that 
members  of  the  Senate  and  House  will  form  a  procession  at  the  National 
Hotel  to-morrow,  at  twenty  minutes  past  eleven,  to  accompany  the  remains 
of  Mr.  Clay  to  the  Capitol  for  funeral  ceremonies.  The  remains  will  pass 
thence  to  the  cars,  and  depart  for  Kentucky." 

The  question  was  then  put,  on  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions 
proposed  by  Mr.  Breckinridge,  and  they  were  unanimously 
adopted, 

Ard  the  House  adjourned. 

*  Linn  Boyd  (Democrat   of  Kentucky 


FUNERAL  SERMON  IN  THE  SENATE  417 

THE  FUNERAL  AT  THE  CAPITOL. 

IN   SENATE,    THURSDAY,  JULY  1,  1852. 

Pursuant  to  the  arrangements  prescribed  by  the  committee  of  the  Senate, 
the  members  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  together 
•with  public  bodies  and  associations,  military  companies,  and  civic  authorities, 
assembled  at  the  National  Hotel,  where  the  body  had  lain  since  life  de 
parted  ;  and  thence  the  melancholy  funeral  cortege  passed  to  the  Senate- 
chamber,  so  long  the  theatre  of  his  gloriea 

As  the  body  was  borne  to  the  centre  of  the  Chamber,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Butler, 
Chaplain  to  the  Senate,  in  full  canonicals,  read  part  of  the  Episcopal  ritual— 
"I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life,  saith  the  Lord."  In  consonance  with 
the  solemn  service  over  the  dead  was  the  scene  there  presented — sombre 
and  sad. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  were  seated  with  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The  body 
of  the  Senate,  the  representatives  of  State  sovereignties,  were  grouped,  on 
the  two  innermost  semi-circular  rows  of  chairs,  around  the  lifeless  form  of 
their  late  colleague.  The  committee  of  arrangements,  and  the  committee  t< 
convey  the  body  to  Kentucky,  and  the  pall-bearers,  with  the  Kentucky 
delegation  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  as  chief  mourners,  and  a  fe\» 
personal  devoted  friends,  were  also  in  close  proximity  to  the  inanimate  fonr 
of  the  deceased. 

The  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  filled  the  outer  circles, 
except  such  parts  as  were  devoted  to  the  large  diplomatic  corps,  the  Cabi 
net  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  the  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy, 
among  whom  were  Major-General  Scott,  commander-in-chief,  and  Com 
modore  Morris.  "With  the  Municipal  Councils  of  the  city  of  "Washington, 
were  the  officers  of  neighboring  cities,  and  others,  official  and  unofficial 

Mr.  James  Maher,  the  public  gardener,  placed  a  fragrant  shield  of  sweetly- 
culled  flowers  upon  the  sarcophagus,  as  a  memorial  of  affection  for  the 
deceased  statesman  within.  The  pure  white  and  brightly- variegated  flowers 
contrasted  sadly  with  the  rich  folding  drapery  of  black  cloth,  relieved 
though  it  was  by  silver  ornaments.  The  sarcophagus  in  which  the  remains 
were  inurned,  resembles  the  outlines  of  the  human  body.  The  handles,  the 
face-plate,  the  plate  for  inscribing  the  name,  and  other  plates,  are  of  massive 
silver,  beautifully  wrought  and  chased,  having  appropriate  emblems,  among 
which  appear  wreaths  of  laurel  and  oak,  with  a  full-blown  rose,  and  sprig 
of  oak  with  its  acorns  detached  from  their  parent  stem,  showing  the  work 
of  the  fell  destroyer.  Amidst  the  contemplations  to  which  this  scene  gave 
being,  the  Chaplain's  voice  broke  on  the  listening  ear — "But  some  man  will 
eay,  How  are  the  dead  raised  up  ?  and  with  what  body  do  they  come  ?"  The 
answer  was  furnished  by  the  residue  of  the  15th  chapter  of  1st  Corinthians, 
•which  the  Chaplain  impressively  read  for  the  consolation  of  the  bereaved 
living  27 

B* 


418  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLA1. 

"  How  is  the  strong  staff  broken  and  the  beautiful  rod  1"  (Jeremiah  xlvilL 
17,)  was  the  suggestive  text  of  the  following  impressive  discourse : 

"Before  all  hearts  and  minds  in  this  august  assemblage,  the  vivid  image 
of  ONE  MAN  stands.  To  some  aged  eye,  he  may  come  forth,  from  the  dim 
past,  as  he  appeared  in  the  neighboring  city  of  his  native  State,  a  lithe  and 
ardent  youth,  full  of  promise,  of  ambition,  and  of  hope.  To  another,  he  may 
appear  as,  in  a  distant  State,  in  the  courts  of  justice,  erect,  high-strung,  bold, 
wearing  fresh  forensic  laurels  on  his  young  and  open  brow.  Some  may  se«j 
him  in  the  earlier  and  some  in  the  later  stages  of  his  career  on  this  auspi 
cious  theatre  of  his  renown ;  and  to  the  former  he  will  start  out,  on  the  back 
ground  of  the  past,  as  he  appeared  in  the  neighboring  Chamber,  tall,  elate, 
impassioned,  with  flashing  eye  and  suasive  gesture,  and  clarion  voice,  at. 
already  acknowledged  'Agamemnon,  King  of  Men;'  and  to  others  he  will 
again  stand  in  this  Chamber  'the  strong  staff 'of  the  bewildered  and  stagger 
ing  State,  and  'the  beautiful  rod,'  rich  with  the  blossoms  of  genius,  and  of 
patriotic  We  and  hope,  the  life  of  youth  still  remaining  to  give  animation, 
grace,  and  exhaustless  vigor,  to  the  wisdom,  the  experience,  and  gravity  of 
age.  To  others  he  may  be  present  as  he  sat  in  the  chamber  of  sickness, 
cheerful,  majestic,  gentle — his  mind  clear,  his  heart  warm,  his  hope  fixed^on 
heaven,  peacefully  preparing  for  his  last  great  change.  To  the  memory  of 
the  minister  of  God,  he  appears  as  the  penitent,  humble,  and  peaceful 
Christian,  who  received  him  witli  the  affection  of  a  father,  and  joined  with 
him  in  solemn  sacrament  and  prayer  with  the  gentleness  of  a  woman  and 
humility  of  a  child.  'Out  of  the  strong  came  forth  sweetness.'  'How  is 
the  strong  staff  broken  and  the  beautiful  rod !'  But  not  before  this  assem 
bly  only  does  the  venerable  image  of  the  departed  statesman  this  day 
distinctly  stand.  For  more  than  a  thousand  miles — East,  West,  North,  and 
South — it  is  known  and  remembered,  that  at  this  place  and  hour  a  nation's 
representatives  assemble  to  do  honor  to  him  whose  fame  is  now  a  nation's 
heritage.  A  nation's  mighty  heart  throbs  against  this  Capitol,  and  beats 
through  you.  In  many  cities,  banners  droop,  bells  toll,  cannons  boom, 
funeral  draperies  wave.  In  crowded  streets  and  on  surrounding  wharves, 
upon  steamboats,  and  upon  cars,  in  fields,  in  workshops,  in  homes,  in  schools, 
millions  of  men,  women,  and  children,  have  their  thoughts  fixed  upon  this 
scene,  and  say  mournfully  to  each  other,  'This  is  the  hour  in  which,  at  the 
capital,  the  nation's  representatives  are  burying  Henry  Clay.'  Burying 
Henry  Clay?  Bury  the  records  of  your  country's  history — bury  the  hearts 
of  living  millions — bury  the  mountains,  the  rivers,  the  lakes,  and  the 
spreading  lands  from  sea  to  sea,  with  which  his  name  is  inseparably 
associated,  and  even  then  you  would  not  bury  Henry  Clay — for  he  is  in 
other  lands  and  speaks  in  other  tongues,  and  to  other  times,  than  ours. 

"A  great  mind,  a  great  heart,  a  great  orator,  a  great  career,  have  been 
consigned  to  history.  She  will  record  his  rare  gifts  of  deep  insight,  keen 
discrimination,  clear  statement,  rapid  combination,  plain,  direct,  and  con 
vincing  logic.  She  will  love  to  dwell  on  that  large,  generous?  magnanimous, 
open,  forgiving  heart.  She  will  linger  with  fond  delight  on  the  recorded  or 
traditional  stories  of  an  eloquence  that  was  so  masterful  and  stirring,  because 
it  was  but  himself  struggling  to  come  forth  on  the  living  words — because, 
though  the  words  were  brave  and  strong,  and  beautiful  and  melodious,  it  was 
felt  that,  behind  them,  there  was  a  soul,  braver,  stronger,  more  beautiful, 
and  more  melodious  than  language  could  express.  She  will  point  to  a  career 
of  statesmanship  which  has,  to  a  remarkable  degree,  stamped  itself  on  the 
public  policy  of  th*  country,  and  reached  in  beneficent  practical  results  the 


THE    FUNERAL    SERMON.  419 

fields,  the  looms,  the  commercial  marts,  and  the  quiet  homes  of  all  the  land, 
where  his  name  was  with  the  departed  father,  and  is  with  the  living 
children,  and  will  be  with  successive  generations,  an  honored  household 
word. 

"  I  feel,  as  a  man,  the  grandeur  of  this  career.  But  as  an  immortal,  with 
this  broken  wreck  of  mortality  before  me,  with  this  scene  as  the  '  end-all' 
of  human  glory,  I  feel  that  no  career  is  truly  great  but  that  of  him  who, 
whether  he  be  illustrious  or  obscure,  lives  to  the  future  in  the  present,  and, 
linking  himself  to  the  spiritual  world,  draws  from  God  the  life,  the  rule,  the 
motive,  and  the  reward  of  all  his  labor.  So  would  that  great  spirit  which 
has  departed  say  to  us,  could  he  address  us  now.  So  did  he  realize  in  the 
calm  and  meditative  close  of  life.  I  feel  that  I  but  utter  the  lessons  which, 
when  living,  were  his  last  and  best  convictions,  and  which,  dead,  could  ha 
speak  to  us,  his  solemn  admonitions,  when  I  say  that  statesmanship  is  then 
only  glorious  when  it  is  Christian,  and  that  man  is  then  only  safe  and  true 
to  his  duty  and  his  soul,  when  the  life  which  he  lives  in  the  flesh  is  the  lif« 
of  faith  in  the  Son  of  God. 

"Great,  indeed,  is  the  privilege,  and  most  honorable  and  useful  is  the 
career  of  a  Christian  American  statesman. 

"  He  perceives  that  civil  liberty  came  from  the  freedom  wherewith  Christ 
made  its  earliest  martyr  and  defender  free.  He  recognises  it  as  one  of  the 
twelve  manner  of  fruits  on  the  tree  of  life  which,  while  its  lower  branches 
furnish  the  best  nutriment  of  earth,  hangs  on  its  topmost  boughs,  which 
wave  in  heaven,  fruits  that  exhilarate  the  immortals.  Recognising  th« 
State  as  God's  institution,  he  will  perceive  that  his  own  ministry  is  divine. 
Living  consciously  under  the  eye  and  in  the  love  and  fear  of  God,  redeemed 
by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  sanctified  by  his  spirit,  loving  his  law,  he  will  give 
himself,  in^private  and  in  public,  to  the  service  of  his  Savior.  He  will  nol 
admit  that  he  may  act  on  less  lofty  principles  in  public  than  in  private  life, 
and  that  he  must  be  careful  of  his  moral  influence  in  the  small  sphere  of 
home  and  neighborhood,  but  need  take  no  heed  of  it  when  it  stretches  ovei 
continents  nnd  crosses  seas.  He  will  know  that  his  moral  responsibility 
can  not  be  divided  and  distributed  among  others.  When  he  is  told  that  ad 
herence  to  the  strictest  moral  and  religious  principle  is  incompatible  with  & 
successful  and  eminent  career,  he  will  denounce  the  assertion  as  a  libel  on 
the  venerated  father  of  the  Republic — a  libel  on  the  honored  living,  and 
the  illustrious  dead — a  libel  against  a  great  and  Christian  nation — a  libel 
against  God  Himself,  who  has  declared  and  made  'godliness  profitable  for 
the  life  that  is.'  He  will  strive  to  make  laws  transcripts  of  the  character 
and  institutions,  illustrations  of  the  providence  of  God.  He  will  scan  with 
admiration  and  awe  the  purposes  of  God  in  the  future  history  of  the  world, 
in  throwing  open  this  wide  continent,  from  sea  to  sea,  as  the  abode  of 
freedom,  intelligence,  plenty,  prosperity,  and  peace,  and  feel  that,  in  giving 
his  energies  with  a  patriotic  love  to  the  welfare  of  his  country,  he  is  conse 
crating  himself  with  a  Christian's  zeal  to  the  extension  and  establishment 
of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom.  Compared  with  a  career  like  this,  which  is 
equally  open  to  those  whose  public  sphere  is  large  or  small,  how  paltry  are 
the  trade  of  patriotism,  the  tricks  of  statesmanship,  the  rewards  of  success 
ful  baseness !  This  hour,  this  scene,  the  venerated  dead,  the  country,  the 
world,  the  present,  the  future,  God,  duty,  heaven,  hell,  speak  trumpet- 
tongued  to  all  in  the  service  of  their  country,  to  bewar*  how  they  lay  pol 
luted  or  unhallowed  hands 

4  Upon  the  ark 
Of  her  magnificent  and  awful  cause.' 


420  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

"Such  is  the  character  of  that  statesmanship  which  alone  would  haya 
met  the  full  approval  of  the  venerated  dead.  For  the  religion  which  al 
ways  had  a  place  in  the  convictions  of  his  mind  has  also,  within  a  recent 
period,  entered  into  his  experience  and  seated  itself  in  his  heart.  Twenty 
years  since,  he  wrote :  '  I  am  a  member  of  no  religious  sect,  and  I  am  not  a 
professor  of  religion.  I  regret  that  I  am  not.  I  wish  that  I  was,  and  trust 
that  I  shall  be.  I  have,  and  always  have  had,  a  profound  regard  for  Chris 
tianity,  the  religion  of  my  fathers,  and  for  its  rites,  its  usages,  and  observ 
ances.'  That  feeling  proved  that  the  seed  sown  by  pious  parents  was  not 
dead,  though  stifled.  A  few  years  since,  its  dormant  life  was  reawakened. 
He  was  baptized  in  the  communion  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
and  during  his  sojourn  in  this  city  he  was  in  full  communion  with  Trinity 
parish. 

"  It  is  since  his  withdrawal  from  the  sittings  of  the  Senate,  that  I  have 
been  made  particularly  acquainted  with  his  religious  opinions,  character, 
and  feelings.  From  his  first  illness,  he  expressed  to  me  the  persuasion 
that  it  would  be  fatal.  From  that  period  until  his  death,  it  has  been  my 
privilege  to  hold  with  him  frequent  religious  services,  and  conversations 
with  him  in  his  room.  He  averred  to  me  his  full  faith  in  the  great  leading 
doctrines  of  the  Gospel — the  fall  and  sinfulness  of  man,  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
the  reality  and  necessity  of  the  atonement,  the  need  of  being  born  again  by 
the  Spirit,  and  salvation  through  faith  in  the  crucified  Redeemer.  His  own. 
personal  hopes  of  salvation,  he  ever  and  distinctly  based  on  the  promises 
and  the  grace  of  Christ.  Strikingly  perceptible  on  his  naturally  impetuous 
and  impatient  character,  was  the  influence  of  Grace  in  producing  submission 
and  '  patient  waiting  for  Christ,'  and  for  death.  On  one  occasion,  he  spoke 
to  me  of  the  pious  example  of  one  very  near  and  dear  to  him,  as  that  which 
led  him  deeply  to  feel  and  earnestly  to  seek  for  himself  the  reality  and 
blessedness  of  religion.  On  one  occasion,  he  told  me  that  he  had  been 
etriving  to  form  a  conception  of  Heaven ;  and  he  enlarged  upon  the  mercy 
of  that  provision  by  which  our  Savior  became  a  partaker  of  our  humanity, 
that  our  hearts  and  hopes  might  fix  themselves  on  him.  On  another  occa 
sion,  when  he  was  supposed  to  be  very  near  his  end,  I  expressed  to  him  the 
hope  that  his  mind  and  heart  were  at  peace,  and  that  he  was  able  to  rest 
with  cheerful  confidence  on  the  promises  and  merits  of  the  Redeemer.  He 
said,  with  much  feeling,  that  he  endeavored  to,  and  trusted  that  he  did  re 
pose  his  salvation  upon  Christ ;  that  it  was  too  late  for  him  to  look  at  Chris 
tianity  in  the  light  of  speculation;  that  he  had  never  doubted  of  its  truth; 
and  that  he  now  wished  to  throw  himself  upon  it  as  a  practical  and  blessed 
remedy.  Very  soon  after  this,  I  administered  to  him  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Being  extremely  feeble,  and  desirous  of  having  his  mind  un 
diverted,  no  persons  were  present  but  his  son  and  servant.  It  was  a  scene 
long  to  be  remembered.  There,  in  that  still  chamber,  at  a  week-day  noon, 
the  tides  of  life  all  flowing  strong  around  us,  three  disciples  of  the  Savior — the 
minister  of  God,  the  dying  statesman,  and  his  servant,  a  partaker  of  the  like 
precious  faith — commemorated  their  Savior's  dying  love.  He  joined  in  the 
blessed  sacrament  with  great  feeling  and  solemnity — now  pressing  his  hands 
together,  and  now  spreading  them  forth,  as  the  words  of  the  service  ex 
pressed  the  feelings,  desires,  supplications,  and  thanksgivings  of  his  heart. 
After  this  he  rallied,  and  again  I  was  permitted  frequently  to  join  with  him 
in  religious  services,  conversation,  and  prayer.  He  grew  in  grace,  and  in 
the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ.  Among  the  books 
which  he  read  most,  were  Jay's  Morning  and  Evening  Exercises,  the  Life  of 
Dr.  Chalmers,  and  the  Christian  Philosopher  Triumphant  in  Death.  Hia 


THE  FUNERAL  CORTEGE.  421 

hope  continued  to  the  end,  though  true  and  real,  to  be  tremulous  with 
humility  rather  than  rapturous  with  assurance.  When  he  felt  most  the  weari 
ness  of  his  protracted  sufferings,  it  sufficed  to  suggest  to  him  that  his  Heavenly 
Father  doubtless  knew  that,  after  a  life  so  long,  stirring,  and  tempted,  such  a 
discipline  of  chastening  and  suffering  was  needful  to  make  him  meet  for  the 
inheritance  of  the  saints;  and  at  once  the  words  of  meek  and  patient  ac 
quiescence  escaped  his  lips. 

"  Exhausted  nature  at  length  gave  way.  On  the  last  occasion  when  I  was 
permitted  to  offer  a  brief  prayer  at  his  bedside,  his  last  words  to  me  were 
that  he  had  hope  only  in  Christ,  and  that  the  prayer  which  I  had  offered  for 
his  pardoning  love  and  his  sanctifying  grace,  included  everything  which  the 
dying  need.  On  the  evening  previous  to  his  departure,  sitting  an  hour  in 
silence  by  his  side,  I  could  not  but  realize,  when  I  heard  him  in  the  slight 
wanderings  of  his  mind  to  other  days,  and  other  scenes,  murmuring  the 
words,  ' My  mother!  mother  I  mother  /'  and  saying,  ' My  dear  wife,'  as  if  she 
were  present,  I  could  not  but  realize  then,  and  rejoice  to  think  how  near  waa 
the  blessed  reunion  of  his  heart  with  the  loved  dead  and  with  her — our  dear 
Lord  gently  smoothe  her  passage  to  the  tomb ! — who  must  soon  follow  him  to 
his  rest,  whose  spirits  even  then  seemed  to  visit  and  to  cheer  his  memory 
and  his  hope.  Gently  he  breathed  his  soul  away  into  the  spirit  world. 

'  How  blest  the  righteous  when  they  die  I 

When  holy  souls  retire  to  rest, 
How  mildly  beams  the  closing  eye  ! 
How  gently  heaves  the  expiring  breast  ( 

'  So  fades  a  summer  cloud  away ; 

So  sinks  the  gale  when  storms  are  o'er ; 
So  gently  shuts  the  eye  of  day  ; 
So  dies  the  wave  upon  the  shore  1' 

"  Be  it  ours  to  follow  him  in  the  same  humble  and  submissive  faith  to 
Heaven.  Could  he  speak  to  us  the  counsels  of  his  latest  human  and  of  his 
present  heavenly  experience,  sure  I  am  that  he  would  not  only  admonish 
us  to  cling  to  the  Savior  in  sickness  and  in  death,  but  abjure  us  not  to  delay 
to  act  upon  our  first  convictions,  that  we  might  give  our  best  power  and 
fullest  influence  for  God,  and  go  to  the  grave  with  a  hope  unshadowed  by 
the  long  worldliness  of  the  past,  and  darkened  by  no  films  of  fear  and  doubt 
resting  over  the  future ! 

"  The  strong  staff  is  broken,  and  the  beautiful  rod  despoiled  of  its  grace 
ind  bloom  ;  but,  in  the  light  of  the  eternal  promises,  and  by  the  power  of 
Christ's  resurrection,  we  joyfully  anticipate  the  prospect  of  seeing  that 
broken  staff  erect,  and  that  beautiful  rod,  clothed  with  celestial  grace,  and 
blossoming  with  undying  life  and  blessedness,  in  the  paradise  of  God." 

The  ritual  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  at  the  burial  of  thfe  dead, 
closed  the  solemn  service,  and  the  body  was  removed  to  the 
Rotunda,  that  his  sorrowing  countrymen  might  gaze  upon  that 
face  in  deatli  which  has  cheered  them  so  much  while  living. 

The  funeral  cortege,  with  the  mortal  remains  of  the  departed 
statesman,  left  Washingtor.  by  railroad  soon  after  the  conclusion 
of  the  above  services,  halt'ng  for  the  night  at  Baltimore,  where 


422  LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

the  whole  people  came  out  to  attest  by  fit  observances  their  af 
fection  and  sorrow.  Thence  it  proceeded  next  day,  halting 
briefly  at  Wilmington,  to  Philadelphia,  where  the  most  impres 
sive  honors  were  paid  to  the  mighty  dead  by  countless  thousands. 
The  body  rested  for  the  night  in  Independence  Hall,  under  im 
posing  military  guardianship.  The  next  day  (Saturday)  it  moved 
on  to  New-York,  halting  briefly  at  the  principal  villages  of  New- 
Jersey,  where  Mr.  Clay  had  ever  been  most  deeply  beloved  and 
warmly  supported.  Again  at  New-York,  where  the  great  Ken- 
tuckian  had  'troops  of  friends'  as  devoted  as  man  ever  had  in  the 
world,  the  people  had  gathered  at  one  o'clock  in  countless  thou 
sands  to  share  in  the  solemnities  of  the  occasion  ;  and,  after  wait 
ing  its  arrival  till  five,  followed  the  bier  in  long  and  sad  proces 
sion  to  the  City  Hall,  where  the  coffin  rested  through  the 
Sabbath  in  the  Governor's  Room,  guarded  by  the  Washington 
Greys,  who  afterward  formed  its  escort  to  Albany.  While  it 
remained  in  New- York,  more  than  thirty  thousand  persons  passed 
in  succession  through  the  Governor's  Room  to  gaze  at  the  closed 
coffin  which  shrouded  from  view  the  deserted  tenement  of  Genius 
and  Patriotism.  On  Monday  morning  the  procession  departed 
by  steamboat  for  Albany,  where  the  most  imposing  testimonials 
of  public  grief  were  rendered  by  nearly  the  whole  people.  The 
bier  rested  for  the  night  in  the  State  capitol,  and  thence  took  its 
way  next  morning,  with  its  long  train  of  attendants,  by  railroad 
through  Ithaca,  Syracuse,  Rochester,  to  Buffalo,  thence  by  steam 
boat  to  Cleveland,  by  railroad  to  Cincinnati,  and  so  by  Louis 
ville  to  Lexington,  everywhere  evoking  from  the  entire  com 
munity  unanimous  manifestations  of  a  fond  and  tender  regard  for 
the  great  and  good  Statesman  so  ripely  called  to  everlasting  rest. 
Party  differences  were  utterly  forgotten  ;  the  miserable  calum 
nies  which  for  a  season  had  clouded  the  fame  of  the  noblest 
living  American  were  remembered,  if  At  all,  only  as  deeply  dis 
graceful  to  their  inventors;  and  the  whole  American  People  min 
gled  their  tears  of  fond  and  grateful  sorrow  above  the  urn  that 
enclosed  the  dust  which  once  was  Henry  Clay.  And  thus,  his 
ashes  were  laid  to  rest,  on  Saturday,  July  10th,  at  the  city  he 
had  early  chosen  for  his  home,  and  among  the  people  who  had  ad 
mired,  supported,  and  loved  him  with  unwavering  fidelity  through 


FUNERAL    AT    LEXINGTON.  423 

all  the  storms  and  calms  of  more  than  half  a  century  of  eventful 
public  life.  Surrounded  by  the  whole  circle  of  his  stricken 
relatives,  including  the  faithful  and  devoted  partner  of  his  joys 
and  sorrows,  and  attended  to  the  grave  by  the  entire  community 
of  which  he  was  so  eminently  beloved  a  member,  his  body  was 
buried  in  the  spot  of  his  choice,  there  to  mingle  with  the  soil  of 
that  gallant  State  which  he  had  so  loved  and  honored,  and  which 
had  equally  loved  and  revered  him  in  turn.  There  let  the 
marble  rise  proudly  and  gracefully  above  his  silent  dust ;  but 
that  will  not  be  his  only  nor  his  noblest  memorial.  Wherever 
our  seamen  shall  ride  out  a  tempest  in  safety,  protected  by  the 
piers  and  breakwaters  of  our  Atlantic  or  inland  harbors  —  wher 
ever  internal  trade  shall  find  a  highway  opened  for  it  over  moun 
tains  or  through  morasses  by  the  engineer's  science  and  the 
laborer's  sturdy  arm  —  wherever  Industry  shall  see  its  pursuits 
diversified  and  its  processes  perfected  through  the  naturalization 
among  us  of  new  Arts  or  the  diffusion  of  Manufacturing  efficiency 
—  there  shall  henceforth  arise  in  the  hearts  of  grateful  Freemen 
enduring  monuments  to  the  genius,  the  patriotism,  the  statesmaft- 
ship,  the  beneficence,  of  our  beloved  HENRY  CLAY. 


POETIC     TRIBUTES. 


TO  HENRY  CLAY 

BY   JOHN    GREENLEAF   WHITTIER, 

Holding  the  principle  that  a  citizen,  as  long  as  a  single  pulsation  remains,  is  under  obllga 
tion  to  exert  his  utmost  energies  in  the  service  of  his  country,  whether  in  a  private  or  publir 
station,  my  friends  may  rest  assured  that,  in  either  condition  I  shall  stand  erect,  with  a  spiril 
unconquered,  while  life  endures,  ready  to  second  their  exertions  in  the  cause  of  Union  and 
Liberty.— HENRY  CLAY. 

I  have  doubtless  committed  many  errors  and  indiscretions,  over  which  you  have  thrown  the 
broad  mantle  of  your  charity.  But  I  can  say,  and  in  the  presence  of  my  God  and  of  thi« 
assembled  multitude  I  do  say,  that  I  have  honestly  served  my  country — that  I  have  never 
wronged  it — and  that,  however  unprepared  I  lament  that  I  am  to  appear  in  the  Divine  Pres 
ence  on  other  accounts.  I  invoke  the  justice  of  his  judgment  on  my  official  conduct,  without 
the  smallest  apprehension  of  his  displeasure.— Speech  of  Mr.  Clay,  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  1829. 

AY  —  stand  erect!    the  cloud  is  broken  — 
Above  thee  bends  the  rainbow's  token ! 
The  shadow  of  thy  onward  way 
Is  blending  into  perfect  day; 
The  slanders  of  the  venal  train 
Assail  thy  honest  name  in  vain ; 
For  thou  wilt  be  as  thou  hast  been, 
The  hope  of  free  and  patriot  men  I 

Still  boasts  thy  lip  its  fiery  zeal  — 
Thy  heart  its  joy  in  human  weal — 
Still  free  thy  tongue  to  soothe  or  warn  — 
Still  free  its  fiery  shaft  of  scorn  — 
Still  soars  thy  soul,  untamed  and  strong, 
The  loftier  for  its  sense  of  wrong — 
Still  first  in  Freedom's  cause  to  stand, 
The  champion  of  her  favorite  land. 

Oh!   what  to  thee  were  pomp  and  show — 
Aught  that  thy  country  can  bestow? 
Her  highest  gifts  could  only  take 
Few  honors  for  their  wearer's  sake  — 
They  could  not  add  a  wreath  to  thine, 
Nor  brighter  make  thy  glory  shine  — 
No  I   meaner  ones  may  borrow  fame, 
Thine  lives  through  every  change  the  same! 


POETIC    TRIBUTES. 

The  Grecian,  as  he  feeds  his  flocks 
In  Tempo's  vale,  on  Morea's  rocks, 
Or  where  the  gleam  of  bright  blue  waters 
Is  caught  by  Scio's  white-armed  daughters, 
While  dwelling  on  the  dubious  strife 
Which  ushered  in  his  nation's  life, 
Shall  mingle,  in  his  grateful  lay, 
BOZZARIS  with  the  name  of  CLAY! 

Where  blush  the  warm  skies  of  the  South 

O'er  Cotopaxi's  fiery  mouth, 

And  round  the  fallen  Incas'  graves 

The  Pampa  rolls  its  breezy  waves, 

The  patriot  in  his  council  hall  — 

The  soldier  at  his  fortress  wall  — 

The  brave  —  the  lovely  —  and  the  free— • 

Shall  offer  up  their  prayers  for  thee. 

And  where  our  own  rude  valleys  smile, 
And  temple-spire,  and  lofty  pile, 
Crown,  like  the  fashion  of  a  dream, 
*The  slope  of  every  mountain  stream  — 
Where  Industry  and  Plenty  meet, 
Twin  brothers  in  the  crowded  street — 
Each  spire  and  mansion  upward  sent, 
Shall  be  thy  fitting  monument! 

Still  stand  erect!    our  hope  and  trust^ 
When  Law  is  trampled  in  the  dust, 
When  o'er  our  fathers  yet  green  graves 
The  war-cry  of  Disunion  raves  — 
And  sons  of  those  who  side  by  side, 
Smote  down  the  Lion-banner's  pride, 
Are  girding  for  fraternal  strife  — 
For  blow  for  blow,  and  life  for  life! 

Let  others  rob  the  public  store, 
To  buy  their  ill-used  power  once  more  — 
Shrink  back  from  truth  —  and  open  wide 
The  flood-gates  of  Corruption's  tide  — 
Thou  standest  in  thy  country's  eye 
Unshrinking  from  its  scrutiny, 
And,  asking  nothing  but  to  show 
How  far  a  Patriot's  zeal  can  go. 

And  those  whose  trust  is  fixed  on  thee— 
Unbought  —  unpledged — and  truly  free, 
They  bow  not  to  an  idol  down ; 
They  scorn  alike  the  bribe  and  frown; 
And,  asking  no  reward  of  gold, 
For  bartered  faith — for  honor  sold, 
Seek,  faithful  to  their  hearths  and  home, 
NOT  CAESAR'S  WEAL,  BUT  THAT  OF  ROME! 


LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY 
IL 

HENRY  CLAY, 

ON   HIS   BETIRINQ   FROM   THE   U.    S.    SENATE. 

WAIL  for  the  glorious  Pleiad  fled  — 

Wail  for  the  ne'er  returning  star 
Whose  mighty  music  ever  led 

The  spheres  in  their  high  home  afar! 
Bring  burial  weeds?  and  sable  plume 

What  —  lift  the  funeral  song  of  wo 
Such  as  should  o'er  the  loved  one's  toral 

In  Sorrow's  tenderest  accent  flow? 

Ah!  Freedom's  kindling  minstrel,  no 
Strike!  strike  with  a  triumphant  hand 

Thy  harp,  and  at  its  swelling  roll 
Speak,  through  the  borders  of  our  land, 

The  might  — the  beauty  of  that  soul 
Whose  genius  is  our  guardian  light 
Through  sunny  ray  or  darkling  night  — 
A  worshiped  Pharos  in  the  sea, 

Lifting  on  high  its  fearless  form 
To  guide  the  vessel  of  the  Free 

Safe  through  the  fury  of  the  storm. 

PRIDE  OF  THE  WEST!  whose  clarion-tone 
Thrilled  grandly  through  her  forest  lon%, 
And  waked  to  bounding  life  the  shore 
Where  darkness  only  sat  before  — 
How  millions  bent  before  thy  shrine, 
Beholding  there  a  light  divine  — 
Caught  on  the  golden  chain  of  love, 
From  its  majestic  source  above. 

STAR  OF  OUR  HOPE!  when  Battle's  call 
Had  wove  the  soldier's  gory  pall  — 
When,  blazing  o'er  the  troubled  seas, 
Death  came  tumultuous  on  the  breeze, 
And  men  beheld  Columbia's  frame 
Scorched  by  the  lurid  levin-flame  — 
Thou!  thou  didst  pour  the  patriot- strain,* 
And  thrilled  with  it  each  bleeding  vein  — 
Until  the  star-lit  banners  streamed 

Like  tempest-fires  around  the  foe, 
Whose  crimson  cross  no  longer  gleamed 
In  triumph  where  it  erst  had  beamed  — 

But  sunk  beneath  our  gallant  blow. 

SUN  OF  THE  FREE!  where  Summer  smiles 
Eternal  o'er  the  clustered  isles  — 
Where  GREECE  unsheathed  her  olden  blade 
For  Glory  in  the  haunted  shade  — 
.  Alluding  to  his  efforts  as  Republican  leader  in  Congress  during  tie  late  Vfi 


POETIC    TRIBUTES. 

Where  CHIMBORAZO  stands  sublime 
A  land-mark  by  the  sea  of  Time  —  * 
Thy  name  shall,  as  a  blessing  given 

For  Man,  oh!  never  to  depart, 
Peal  from  our  gladdened  Earth  to  Heaven  — 

The  warm,  wild  music  of  the  heart. 

PRIDE  OF  THE  JUST!  what  though  dark  Hate 

Her  frenzied  storm  around  thee  rolls  — 
Has  it  not  ever  been  the  fate 

Of  all  this  Earth's  truth-speaking  souls  I 
Lightnings  may  play  upon  the  rock 

Whose  star-kissed  foreliead  woos  the  gale, 
While  they  escape  the  thunder-shock 

Who  dwell  within  the  lonely  vale— • 
Living  unnoted! — not  so  thou 
Chief  of  the  fearless  soul  and  brow ! 
Yet  let  the  lightning  and  the  storm 
Beat  on  thy  long-devoted  form ! 
The  silvery  day-beam  bursts!  and  lo! 
Around  thee  curls  the  Promise-Bow! 

Look!  on  yon  hight  Columbia  stands  — 

Immortal  laurels  in  her  hands! 

And  hark  her  voice  —  "RISE!  FREEMEN,  RISK! 

Unloose  the  chain  from  ev'ry  breast; 
See !  see  the  splendor  in  yon  skies 

Flashed  from  the  bosom  of  the  WEST!" 
Roused  at  the  sound,  lo !  millions  leap 
Like  giants  from  inglorious  sleep! 
What  cries  are  here"?     What  sounds  prevail! 
Whose  name  is  thundering  on  the  gale?  — 
(Far  in  the  mountains  of  the  North — 

Far  in  the  sunny  South  away  — 
A  winged  lustre  bounding  forth  — ) 

The  deathless  name  of  HENRY  CLAY 


III. 
'HE  IS  NOT  FALLEN.'f 

BY   J.    O.   WIIITTIER. 

NOT  FALLEN!  No     as  well  the  tall 
And  pillared  Allegheny  fall  — 
As  well  Ohio's  giant  tide 

Roll  backward  on  its  mighty  track 
As  he,  Columbia's  hope  and  pride, 
The  slandered  and  the  sorely  tried, 

In  his  triumphant  course  turn  back. 

•  Who  can  forget  Heury  Clay's  burning  eloquence  iu  advocacy  of  Grecian  and  South  Amen 
lean  Independence? 
t  Incited  by  a  spirited  article  thua  entitled  by  George  D.  Prentice  in  his  Louisville  Journal. 


LIFE    OF    HENRY    CLAY. 

HE  is  NOT  FALLEN  !     Seek  to  bind 
The  chainless  and  unbidden  wind; 
Oppose  the  torrent's  headlong  course, 
And  turn  aside  the  whirlwind's  forae 
But  deem  not  that  the  mighty  mind 
Will  cower  before  the  blast  of  hate, 

Or  quail  at  dark  and  causeless  ilL* 
For  though  all  else  be  desolate, 
It  stoops  not  from  its  high  estate  — 

A  Malftus  'mid  the  ruins  still. 

HE  is  NOT  FALLEN!     Every  breeze 

That  wander's  o'er  Columbia's  bosom, 
From  wild  Penobscot's  forest-trees, 
From  ocean  shore,  from  inland  seas, 

Or  where  the  rich  Magnolia's  blossom 
Floats,  snow-like,  on  the  sultry  wind, 

Is  booming  onward  on  his  ear, 
A  homage  to  his  lofty  mind  — 
A  meed  the  falling  never  find, 

A  praise  which  Patriots  only  hear. 

STAR  OF  THE  WEST!  a  million  eyes 

Are  turning  gladly  unto  him; 
The  shrine  of  old  idolatries 

Before  his  kindling  light  grows  dim! 
And  men  awake  as  from  a  dream. 

Or  meteors  dazzling  to  betray; 
And  bow  before  his  purer  beam, 

The  earnest  of  a  better  day. 

ALL  HAIL!  the  hour  is  hastening  on 

When,  vainly  tried  by  Slander's  flams', 
Columbia  shall  behold  her  son 

Unharmed,  without  a  laurel  gone, 
As  from  the  flames  of  Babylon 

The  angel-guarded  triad  came! 
The  Slanderer  shall  be  silent  then, 

His  spell  shall  leave  the  minds  of  men, 
And  higher  glory  wait  upon 

The  WESTERN  PATRIOT'S  future  fame. 


THE 


LIFE  01'  MPOLEON  BOIAPAETE, 

dcraprar  of  Jrattn. 

BY  J.  O.  LOCKHART. 
With  Steel  Portrait,  392  pp.  12  mo..  Muslin.    Price  $1  25. 

"The  lightning  may  flash  and  the  loud  thunder  rattle, 
He  heeds  not,  he  hears  not,  he's  free  from  all  pain ; 

He  has  slept  his  last  sleep,  he  has  fought  his  last  battle, 
No  sound  can  awake  him  to  glory  again." 

He  was  the  greatest  actor  the  world  has  known  since  the  time 
of  Osesar.  He  sported  with  crowns  and  sceptres  as  the  baubles  of  a 
child.  He  rode  triumphantly  to  power  over  the  ruins  of  the  thrones 
with  which  he  strewed  his  pathway.  Vast  armies  melted  away  like 
wax  before  him.  He  moved  over  the  earth  as  a  meteor  traverses  the 
sky,  astonishing  and  startling  all  by  the  suddenness  and  brilliancy  of 
his  career.  Here  was  his  greatness.  The  earth  will  feel  his  power 
till  its  last  cycle  shall  have  been  run. 


THE    LIFE 

OF 

THE  EMPRESS  JOSEPHINE, 

Just  Wtitt  at 


BY   P.  C.  HEADLEY. 
With  Steel  Portrait,  383  pp.,  12mo.,  Muslin.  Price  $1  25. 

"Like  the  lily, 

That  once  was  mistress  of  the  field  and  flowers  here, 
I'll  hang  my  head  and  perish." 

Josephine,  for  the  times  in  which  she  lived,  was  a  model  of 
female  character;  and  if  this  volume  shall  make  the  study  of  it  more 
general,  it  will  so  far  extend  the  admiration  of  the  pure  and  beautiful, 
in  contrast  with  all  the  forms  of  corruption  humanity  could  present  iu 
a  period  of  bloody  Revolution.  The  Empress  was  a  greater  personage 
than  Napoleon  in  the  elements  of  moral  grandeur,  and  retained  her 
*»vereignty  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  while  he  ruled  by  the  unri- 
"'Hled  splendor  of  his  genius. 

Sold  by  all  Booksellers.    Mailed,  post-paid,  to  any  address,  upon  receipt  of  price. 
C.  M.  SAXTON,  MILLER    &  Co.,  PubT^hers, 

25  Park  Heir    *r*w  Yoric. 


ALL  THE  ARCTIC  EXPEDITIONS 

ARCTIC 

EXPLORATIONS  AND  DISCOVERIES 

DURING  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

BEING   DETAILED  ACCOUNTS  OF 

THE  SEVERAL  EXPEDITIONS  TO  THE  NORTH  SEAS, 

BOTH  ENGLISH  AND  AMERICAN,  CONDUCTED  BY 

BOSS,  PAKRY,  BACK,  FEANKLIN,  M'CLURE  AND  OTHERS.     ' 

INCLUDING  THE  FIRST  GRINNELL  EXPEDITION, 

UNDEB  LIEUTENANT  DE  HA.VEN,  AND  THB 

FINAL  EFFORT  OF  DR.  E.  K.  KANE 

IN  SEARCH  OF  SIR  JOHN  FRANKLIN. 

BY   SAMUEL   M.  SMUCKER. 

517  pages  12mo.,  -with  Illustrations.    Price  $1 00. 

Repeated,  bold,  and  daring  enterprises  have  been  undertaken  during 
the  present  century,  to  explore  the  hidden  recesses  of  the  Northern 
seas,  the  vast  frozen  region  of  everlasting  snow,  of  stupendous  ice 
bergs,  of  hyberborean  storms,  of  the  long,  cheerless  nights  of  the  Arc 
tic  Zone.  To  navigate  and  explore  these  dismal  realms,  men  of  ex 
treme  daring,  of  sumblime  fortitude,  of  unconquerable  perseverance, 
were  absolutely  necessary.  And  such  men  possessed  one  great  ele 
ment  of  distinguishing  greatness,  of  which  the  explorerers  of  more  ge 
nial  and  inviting  climes  were  destitute.  Their  investigations  were 
made  entirely  without  the  prospect  of  rich  reward,  and  chiefly  for  the 
motion  of  the  magnificent  ends  of  science.  The  discovery  of  a 
estern  passage  was  indeed  not  forgotten  ;  but  it  must  be  con- 

hat  other  less  mercenary  and  more  philanthropic  motives  have 

given  rise  to  the  larger  portion  of  the  expeditions  which,  during  the 
progress  of  the  nineteenth  century,  have  invaded  the  cheerless  soli 
tudes  of  that  dangerous  and  repulsive  portion  of  the  globe. 

This  work  contains  a  narrative  of  the  chief  adventures  and  discov 
eries  of  Arctic  explorers  during  this  century.  No  expedition  of  any 
importance  has  been  omitted;  and  the  work  has  been  brought  down  in 
its  details  to  the  present  time,  so  as  to  include  a  satisfactory  account  of 
the  labors,  sufferings,  and  triumphs  of  that  prince  of  Arctic  explorers 
and  philanthropists,  Dr.  Kane  ;  whose  adventures,  and  whose  able  nar 
rative  of  them,  entitle  him  to  fadeless  celebrity,  both  as  a  hero  in  the 
field,  and  as  a  man  of  high  genius  and  scholarship. 

The  great  chapter  of  Arctic  adventure  and  discovery,  may  now  be 
considered  as  closed.  A  concise  and  reliable  account  threfcre,  of  those 
adventures  and  discoveries,  with  the  novel  and  thrilling  incidents  at 
tending  them,  cannot  be  otherwise  than  interesting  in  themselves,  and  ac 
ceptable  to  the  public. 

Sold  by  all  Booksellers     Mailed,  post-pai-J,  to  any  address,  upon  receipt  of  price. 

C.  M.  SAXTON,  MILLER  &  Co.,  Publishers, 

25  Park  Rou.\  New  York. 

r-l      W,      M      T~l       T  "^fc. 


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